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act of 1341, that we first hear of the chancellor, treasurer, justices and other members of the king's council exercising jurisdiction in the old chamber, or chambre de estoiles, at See also:

Westminster. In Henry VI.'s reign one See also:

DANVERS

Danvers was acquitted of a certain See also:

charge by the council in the camera stellata. Hitherto such acts of parliament as hadrecognized this jurisdiction had done so only by way of See also:

LIMITATION, STATUTES OF

limitation or See also:

PROHIBITION (Lat. prohibere, to prevent)

prohibition, but in 1453, about the See also:

time when the distinction between the ordinary and the privy council first became apparent, 'an act was passed empowering the chancellor to enforce the attendance of all persons summoned by the privy See also:

seal before the king and his council in all cases not determinable by See also:

COMMON

common law. At this time, then, the jurisdiction of the council was recognized as supplementary to that of the ordinary courts of law.

But the anarchy of the See also:

WARS

Wars of the See also:

ROSES, WARS OF THE

Roses and the decay of See also:

LOCAL

local justice, owing to the See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence of the See also:

GREAT

great barons and the turbulence of all classes, obliged parliament to entrust wider See also:

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

powers to the council. This was the See also:

OBJECT

object of the famous act of 1487, which was incorrectly quoted by the lawyers of the See also:

long parliament as creating the court of star chamber, which was in reality of earlier origin. The act of 1487 (3 See also:

Hen. VII.) created a court composed of seven persons, the chancellor, the treasurer, the keeper of the privy seal, or any two of them, with a See also:

bishop, a temporal See also:

lord and the two See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief justices, or in their See also:

ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence two other justices. It was to See also:

DEAL

deal with cases of " unlawful maintainance, giving of licences, signs and tokens, great riots, unlawful assemblies "; in See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short with all offences against the law which were too serious to be dealt with by the ordinary courts. The jurisdiction thus entrusted to this See also:

COMMITTEE (from commute, an Anglo-Fr. past participle of commettre, Lat. committere, to entrust; the modern Fr. equivalent comite is derived from the Eng.)

committee of the council was not supplementary, therefore, like that granted in 1453, but it superseded the ordinary courts of law in cases where these were too weak to act. The act simply supplied machinery for the exercise, under See also:

SPECIAL

special circumstances, of that extraordinary penal jurisdiction which the council had never ceased to possess. By an act of 1529 an eighth member, the See also:

PRESIDENT (Fr. president, from Lat. praesidens, post-Augustan Lat. for praeses, director, ruler, from praesidere, to sit in front of, preside)

president of the council, was added to the star chamber, the jurisdiction of which was at the same time confirmed. At this time the court performed a very necessary and valuable See also:

WORK

work in punishing powerful offenders who could not be reached by the ordinary courts of law. It was found very useful by See also:

CARDINAL (Lat. cardinalis)

Cardinal See also:

WOLSEY, THOMAS (c. 1475–1530)

Wolsey, and a little later See also:

Sir See also:

Thomas See also:

Smith says its object was " to bridle such stout noblemen or gentlemen who would offer wrong by force to any manner of men, and cannot be content to demand or defend the right by See also:

order of the law." It is popularly supposed that the star chamber, after an existence of about fifty years, disappeared towards the end of the reign of Henry VIII., the powers obtained by the act of 1487 being not lost, but reverting to the council as a whole. This may have been so, but it is more probable that the star chamber continued to exist See also:

side by side with the council, and the two bodies were certainly See also:

SEPARATE

separate during the latter 'part of See also:

Elizabeth's reign. The act of 1540, which gave the king's See also:

PROCLAMATION (Lat. proclamare, to make public by announcement)

proclamation the force of law, enacted that offenders against them were to be punished by the usual See also:

OFFICERS

officers of the council, together with some bishops and See also:

JUDGES, THE BOOK OF

judges " in the star chamber or else-where." It is difficult, if not impossible, to draw a clear distinction between the duties of the privy council and the duties of the star chamber at this time, although before the abolition of the latter there was a distinction " as to their See also:

composition and as to the matters dealt with by the two courts." During the reign of Elizabeth Sir Thomas Smith remarks that juries misbehaving "were many times commanded to appear in the star chamber, or before the privy council for the See also:

MATTER

matter." The uncertain composition of the court is well shown by Sir Edward See also:

Coke, who says that the star chamber is or may be compounded of three several See also:

COUNCILS

councils: (1) the lords and others of the privy council; (2) the judges of either bench and the barons of the See also:

EXCHEQUER

exchequer; (3) the lords of parliament, who are not, however, See also:

STANDING

standing judges of the court.

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