COURT OF In English Law. A court which was formerly held by divers lords, spiritual and temporal, who were members of the privy council, to gether with two judges of the courts of com mon law.
It was of very ancient origin, was new-modelled by the 3 Hen. VII. c. 1 and 21 Hen. VIII. c. 20, and was finally abolished, after having become very odious to the people, by the 16 Car. I. c. 10. The name is of uncertain origin. It has been thought to he from the Saxon steoran, to go vern,—alludingto the jurisdiction of the court over the crime of cosenage; and has been thought to have been given because the hall in which the court was held was full of windows, Lombard, Eiren. 148; or because the roof was originally studded with gilded stare, Coke, 4th Inst. 66; or, according to Black stone, because the Jewish covenants (called starrs or stars, and which, by a statute of Richard I., were
to be enrolled in three places, one of which was near the exchequer) were originally kept there. 4 Blackstone, Comm. 266, n. The derivation of Blackstone receives confirmation from the fact that this location (near the exchequer) is assigned to the the first time it ia 'mentioned. The word star acquired at some time the recognized signification of inventory or schedule. Stat. Acad. Cont. 32; 4 Sharswood, Blackat. Comm. 266, n.
The legal jurisdiction of this court ex tended originally to riots, perjuries, misbe havior of sheriffs, and other notorious misde meanors. It acted without the assistance of a jury. See Hudson, Court of Star Chamber (printed at the beginning cf the second vol ume of the Collectanea Juridica); 4 Share wood, Blackst. Comm. 266, and notes.