06 The Star Chamber : its Practice and Procedure. 



this derivation of the name, Hadson goes on to show how 

 ancient a name it was, and quotes from a complaint made in 

 40 Edward III., by Elizabeth Studley on account of some 

 wrong done to her by James Studley, upon which James 

 Studley was ordered to appear before the Chancellor and other 

 lords of the council, assembled in " le chambre de estioles pris 

 de la receipt " (Exchequer) at Westminster. 



The name has been derived from the Saxon rteopan, <e to 

 steer or govern;" and also from the crimen stellionatus , 

 " cozenage," which the court punished ; whilst Blackstone 

 suggests the most reasonable origin of all when he observes that 

 before the banishment of the Jews from England by Edward 

 I., the Jewish covenants or contracts were called starra or 

 starrs, a corruption of the Hebrew shetar. These covenants 

 were, by an ordinance of Richard I., directed to be enrolled 

 and kept in chests under three keys, in certain places, oue of 

 which was the Exchequer at Westminster ; and no starr was 

 valid unless it could be found in one of these depositories. 

 The room in which they were kept in the Exchequer was pro- 

 bably called the " starr" chamber ; and Blackstone suggests that 

 when the Jews were driven out, their covenants were destroyed, 

 and the room in which they had been kept was appropriated 

 to the use of the Privy Council. Sir Francis Palgrave, in 

 his Essay on the Original Authority of the King's Council, says, 

 " When Parliament assembled at Westminster, some of the 

 principal chambers of the ancient and splendid palace were 

 allotted for the despatch of business. The Commons sat in 

 the Chapter-house of the adjoining abbey. But the Painted 

 Chamber, the White Chamber, and the Chambre Markolph — 

 probably so-called from the legendary tale relating the 

 trials to which the wisdom of Solomon was subjected by a 

 Syrian peasant, depicted on its walls — were occupied by the 

 triers and receivers of petitions. The council itself, whether 

 1 Parliament ' was assembled or not, held its sittings in the 

 ' Starred Chamber/ an apartment situated in the outermost 

 quadrangle of the palace, next the bank of the river, and con- 

 sequently easily accessible to the suitors, and which at length 

 was permanently appropriated to the use of the council." 



It has been a common error to date the foundation of the 

 Star Chamber from the third year of Henry VII. Even l^ord 

 Andover, who, in 1610, had charge of the bill which passed 

 into "an act for regulating the Privy Council, and for taking 

 away the court commonly called the Court of Star Chamber," 

 erroneously referred to 3 Henry VII. c. 1, as the statute which 

 had first founded the court. " This/' he says, " was the 

 infancy of the Star Chamber. But afterwards the Star 

 Chamber was, by Cardinal Wolsey, in the 8 Henry VIII., 



