PRACTICE OF VETERINARY SURGERY 45 
regard to human treatment, the legal right of the 
state is the same in veterinary regulation. 
The first case which I have found in which the 
right to regulate the practice of medicine was 
made distinct from the holding of a medical degree 
was the famous Bonham case during the reign of 
James I of England. Bonham had been gradu- 
ated in medicine from the University of Cambridge 
in 1595. Under that diploma he undertook to prac- 
tice medicine in London. Henry VIII had granted 
to the College of Physicians of London (which is 
not a teaching college as we know them), the 
supervision of the practice of medicine within 
the city of London, or within seven miles of the 
city, and no person was to be permitted to so prac- 
tice unless he be a member of the said College of 
Physicians. King Henry said that he ‘‘held it 
necessary to restrain the boldness of wicked men 
who professed physic more for avarice than out 
of confidence of a good conscience.’’ The statute 
of Henry permitted the imposition of a fine upon 
violators, and by a later amendment violators 
might be imprisoned. Bonham appeared before 
the board of censors of the College of Physicians 
several times, but failed to pass the required exam- 
ination, and he was forbidden to practice. He 
persisted, and in 1606 he was arrested by the 
censors, and was tried by them, fined and im- 
prisoned. He brought action against the censors 
for false imprisonment, and the case was heard 
before Lord Coke.2 Lord Coke held that under 
the terms of the statutes no man could be impris- 
1Pusiic Heats, 425. 28 Coke, 107a. 
