star chamber

star chamber

An unfair, secret judicial proceeding. This term comes from a criminal court developed in England in the 1400s in which the King’s Council acted as judges in certain procedures. They met in the Star Chamber of the royal palace at Westminster, believed to have been named for the gilded stars decorating its ceiling, and were notorious for their harsh decisions and punishments. This court was abolished in 1621, but its name later was transferred to similar proceedings. In the late l990s, when Kenneth Starr was serving as independent counsel in the investigation of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, some pundits played on the term, alluding to “Mr. Starr’s chamber.”
See also: chamber, star
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • a kangaroo court
  • kangaroo court
  • the jury is (still) out
  • the jury is out
  • jury
  • jury is still out
  • jury is still out, the
  • bum rap
  • bum-rap
  • the King's English
References in periodicals archive
The impressive Star Chamber room at Leasowe Castle, inset
Star Chamber worked in tandem to prosecute all religious and political
Reading Star Chamber cases of forcible entry and disseisin, Whyte highlights the contested nature of the household through the categories of entries, boundaries, and the idea of a moral landscape.
Still others argue that neither an intentional incorporation of English common law nor an opposition to Star Chamber practices influenced the nation's Founders when incorporating the right to a public trial into the Sixth Amendment.
Shadow housing minister John Healey wrote to Mr Pickles today, accusing him of "selling out the important work your department does so you can sit round the Star Chamber table with the big boys".
expenditure before a "Star Chamber" of senior colleagues, while welfare and
The AMA's model bylaws on dealing with disruptive physicians say that "the accusation or complaint--and this is key to their approach--has to be written and signed; there are no secret allegations under the AMA code, no Star Chamber here," he said.
Mr Clarke said he planned to introduce a new star chamber committee to ensure any new regulations are balanced by cuts to old laws.
Mr Gibson, a popular local MP, quit last month after Labour's "star chamber" barred him from standing for the party again following revelations that he claimed pounds 80,000 in second home expenses on a London flat which he later sold at a knock-down price to his daughter.
It is to Mr Henderson's infinite credit that, after a harrowing day in front of a star chamber that left him hanging out to dry, he fulfilled his tireless commitment to charity work for sick kids at Windsor in the evening..
After a brief but useful historical survey there is an examination of surviving sources: manorial records, property and tax records, surveys, Chancery and Exchequer records, other state records, military and common law records, surviving papers from civil litigation (Chancery, Star Chamber, Court of Requests et al.), church records, urban records, heraldry, existing pedigrees, records from before 1066 (very rare) and DNA studies.
Faced with a mandate to provide some sort of trial, the administration opted to create a Star Chamber, where secret evidence could be presented without either the defendant or his attorney being present.
A star chamber court in Ireland; the court of castle chamber, 1571-1641.
That cleans the chamber so well that it wears out the star chamber (barrel extension) and causes excessive headspace.
When Shell admitted its oil reserve estimates were overstated, the predictable chorus of doom used this as "Exhibit A" in a media star chamber against the continued use of fossil fuels.