COWELL, JOHN (1554-1611), English jurist, was born at Ernsborough, Devonshire. He was educated at Eton, and King's College, Cambridge, ultimately becoming professor of civil law and master of Trinity Hall. In 1607 he compiled a law dictionary, The Interpreter, in which he exalted the king's prerogative so much that he was prosecuted before the House of Commons by Sir Edward Coke, and saved from imprisonment only by the inter position of James I. His book was burnt by order of the House of Commons. Dr. Cowell also wrote Institutiones Iuris Anglicani. He died at Oxford on Oct. I1, 1611.