Star Chamber

The Court of Star Chamber was an extraordinary court that had emerged from the Privy Council. It probably got its name from the venue, a hall with a starry ceiling in Westminster. The members (royal councillors and judges) were appointed by the respective ruler, from whose power the authority of this court was derived, i.e. the Star Chamber was not bound by common law. What at first glance seems like despotic arbitrariness actually had its justification. On the one hand, this court also heard cases against such high-ranking personalities of whom one could assume that a conventional court would not have dared to convict at all. On the other hand, it dealt with matters that were not considered in the common law. So much for the theory. In practice, it was a highly political body that England’s rulers repeatedly used in a very arbitrary manner, mainly because the hearings were secret and the rulings could not be appealed. The Star Chamber was only abolished by Parliament in 1641.