Star Chamber
An ancient high court of England, controlled by the monarch, which was abolished in 1641 by Parliament for abuses of power.
The
English court of Star Chamber was created by King Henry VII in 1487 and
was named for a room with stars painted on the ceiling in the royal
palace of Westminster where the court sat. The Star Chamber was an
instrument of the monarch and consisted of royal councillors and two
royal judges. The jurisdiction of the court was based on the royal
prerogative of administering justice in cases not remediable in the
regular courts of law.
The Star Chamber originally assisted with
some administrative matters, but by the 1530s it had become a pure
court, relieving the king of the burden of hearing cases personally. It
was a court of
Equity,
granting remedies unavailable in the common-law courts. As such, the
court was an informal body that dispensed with "due process" as it was
then understood.
During Henry VII's reign (1485–1509), about half
the cases involved real property. During the sixteenth and early
seventeenth centuries, the Star Chamber became a useful tool in dealing
with cases involving members of the aristocracy who often defied the
authority of the regular courts. It was during this period, moreover,
that the court acquired criminal jurisdiction, hearing cases on issues
concerning the security of the realm, such as
Sedition, criminal
libel, conspiracy, and forgery. Later,
Fraud and the punishment of judges came within its jurisdiction.
The
importance of the Star Chamber increased during the reigns of James I
(1603–25) and Charles I (1625–49). Under Archbishop William Laud, the
court became a tool of royal oppression, seeking out and punishing
religious and political dissidents. In the 1630s Laud used the Star
Chamber to persecute a group of Puritan leaders, most of whom came from
the gentry, subjecting them to the pillory and
Corporal Punishment. Though the Star Chamber could not mete out
Capital Punishment,
it inflicted everything short of death upon those found guilty. During
this time the
court met in secret, extracting evidence by torturing
witnesses and handing out punishments that included mutilation, life
imprisonment, and enormous fines.
It turned equity's traditionally broad
discretion into a complete disregard for the law. The Star Chamber
sometimes acted on mere rumors in order to suppress opposition to the
king.
The Star Chamber's Arbitrary
use of power and the cruel punishments it inflicted produced a wave of
reaction against it from Puritans, advocates of common-law courts, and
others opposed to the reign of Charles I. In 1641 the Long Parliament
abolished the court and made reparations to some of its victims.
The term star chamber has come to mean any lawless and oppressive tribunal, especially one that meets in secret. The constitutional concept of
Due Process of Law is in part a reaction to the arbitrary use of judicial power displayed by the Star Chamber.
Further readings
Elton, G. R. 1974.
Star Chamber Stories. New York: Barnes & Noble.
Guy, J. A. 1977.
The Cardinal's Court: The Impact of Thomas Wolsey in Star Chamber. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
