Research On The Court Of Star Chamber

The Court of Star Chamber is one of the most famous prerogative court in Britishhistory,it is not established by any statute.Before presents the characterics of anindependent judicial court in the mid-16th century,it has always been the king’sCouncil.The King’s council is the direct descendant of the Norman and Anglo-SaxonCuria Regis.In the Middle Ages,The Curia Regis gradually differentiated into severalbranch,most of the judicial functions endowed with the three common law CentralCourts,thus the council has gradually become a Consultative,administrativeinstitutions.However,the council is still exercised the “residual jurisdiction” retained bythe king.From the period of Henry3onwards the constitution of the Council began toclear.Initially,The council does not have jurisdiction beyond other courts.But accompaniedby the rigidity of the common law,the council and chancellor began to take jurisdictionover cases which beyond the common law’s areas or which the common law’s remedieswas ineffective.The procedure which applied in the council is different from the commonlaw, the biggest difference is that jury was not applied in the council.With the expansion ofjurisdiction and the procedures,the medieval common law courts and Parliament began torestrict the council, but never succeeding in making any precise restrictions on theirboundaries.However,there is an important limitation to be clear which is that the councilshall not dispose of the free tenement issues and cases which involing an deathsentence,that is to say,the council have no jurisdiction over treason and felony.Thisrestriction has also become the core restriction of the court of Star Chamber.To the Tudor period,the council became the important means by which the newdynasty restore the peace in the country,the tudors made full use of the council’s judicialpower, and to settle and strengthen it by statutes,one of the most important statutes is theact of1487.When the long-term parliament abolished the court of Star Chamber,theycontended that,as a dinstinct court,the court of Star Chamber owed its original to thestatute of1487.But the fact is that the court is not builted on any statutes.Following the reviving of the council’s judicial function,the council wasdifferentiation in the mid-16th century into two branches which one sitting in westminsterdevoting to judicial matters became the court of Star Chamber,another following with theking and devoting to administering matters became the Privy Council.Although the twobodies have different functions,they were the whole council in different capacities.In Tudor dynasty,the court of Star Chamber bit severly to the offences which long disturbingthe society,and the relationship between the court of Star Chamber and the common lawcourts was harmonious,all of this helped to the peace and develepment of thesociety,promote to the transition of england from middle ages to modern territorycountry.So the court of Star Chamber was praised by Adward Coke as “the most honorablecourts in the Christian world except the parliament.”But in the Stutart dynasty when thecountry was splitting into two parties which one is the prerogative party and the other isparliament party, the court of Star Chamber became the most usefully instrument of theprerogative government,and it changed from the land of justice to the mob oppressing thereligious and political opponents.One typical case is the Prynne’s case. Finally,the Courtof Star Chamber was abolished in1641.The procedure of the Court of Star Chamber has dural character,the one is that it didnot apply the jury which implementing the accusatory doctrines but apply the inquisitoryprocedure which mode of triy was dominated by judges. The other is that in the manner ofpleading, public trialing,the freedom of defending and the defended was allowed theassitance of attorney, We can see the factor of common law.This dural character afforedthe abridge in borrowing the civil law ideas into the english common law. Thus we mustfrom the historical and comperative point of view to reading.It should notice that therewas intrinsic conflit in this dural character, and the absence of restriction in the procedureultimately lead to the evil change in the Stuart dynast, and was triumphed by thecommon law system.The practices of the Court of Star Chamber also influenced the substantive law ofEngland, such as the jurisdiction to the king and his servants. Also the defining of offencesuch as perjury, forjery, fraud.The change of the court of Star Chamber from angle to demon involves an paradoxwhich is that when the ordinary system run to canalization, it will gradually be rigidityespecially the effect of “limited by itself”in the procedure areas. In order to satisfy theneed of externalities and remedy the old system, some new rules which have a relativemore elastic and less restriction will emerge. But as the condictions under which the newsystem generated happened to changer, this new rules often descend to the instrument ofcorruption. Thus it must returned to the ordinary system in the end.