Star-Chamber

Was a court which originally had jurisdiction in cases where the ordinary course of justice was so much obstructed by one party, through writs, combination of maintenance or overawing influence that no inferior court would find its process obeyed. The court consisted of the privy council, the common-law judges, and (it seems) all peers of parliament. In the reign of Henry VIII. and his successors, the jurisdiction of the court was illegally extended to such a degree (especially in punishing disobedience to the king's arbitrary proclamations) that it bscame odious to the nation, and was abolished.

4 Steph. Comm. 310; Sweet.