page_title: Star Chamber
section_title: Abolition and aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Star Chamber / History / Abolition and aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: oldnewlondonnarr03thor (find matches) Title: Old and new London&#160;: a narrative of its history, its people, and its places Year: 1873 (1870s) Authors: Thornbury, Walter, 1828-1876 Subjects: Publisher: London&#160;: Cassell, Petter, &amp; Galpin Contributing Library: University of California Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: ement; the centre and wing-towersthree storeys. The wings and centre portions are 5^4 OLD AND NEW LONDON. (The New Palace, divided into thirty-five bays by hexagonal buttresses,with sunk tracery and pinnacles to each. Eachbay contains, between the principal windows, thearms and supporters of all the sovereigns of Eng-land, richly carved, from William the Conqueror toher present Majesty, Queen Victoria&#160;; and on eachside are panels, with sceptres, labels, and appro-)iriate foliage. In a band underneath each win-dow are the names of the respective sovereigns, of St. George, St. Andrew, St. Patrick, and St.David (the patron saints of the four kingdoms),and St. Peter and St. Paul. Between the windowsare panels, containing angels supporting an imperialcrown over the royal arms. In a band over thewindows of the second storey are panels, with thedevices assumed by each sovereign since the Con-quest, Avith mottoes and foliage. In the parapet infront of the towers, supported by an angel corbel, Text Appearing After Image: THE STAR CHAMBER, (From a Drazving taken in 1836.) with the time of their reign and the date of theirdecease. The parapets to each bay are filled with richtracery, in the centre of which is a niche, with thefigure of an angel holding a shield, bearing themonogram V.R. The towers have bold orielwindows, with armorial bearings on each, andpanels containing the insignia of the present reign,with octagon turrets at the angles, and surmountedby an iron roof Between the towers, at each end,are three bays, divided by smaller buttresses andbays, within which are windows and panels, con-taining the arms of the three kingdoms, with therose, shamrock, and thistle entwined. The flanksof the wing-towers are divided into two bays by a Isquare buttress, containing six niches, with statues&#160;! is a niche containing a statue of her Majesty; andthe parapets at the back of each have a niche witha statue of Edward the Confessor, the founder ofthe first Royal Palace at Westminster. The nortli and south retu Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: The Star Chamber was an English court which sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late 15th century to the mid-17th century, and was composed of Privy Counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judicial activities of the common-law and equity courts in civil and criminal matters. The Star Chamber was originally established to ensure the fair enforcement of laws against socially and politically prominent people so powerful that ordinary courts would probably hesitate to convict them of their crimes. However, it became synonymous with social and political oppression through the arbitrary use and abuse of the power it wielded.
  In modern usage, legal or administrative bodies with strict, arbitrary rulings, no “due process” rights to those accused, and secretive proceedings are sometimes called, metaphorically or poetically, "star chambers". This is a pejorative term and casts doubt on the legitimacy of the proceedings. "Star Chamber" can also, rarely, be used in its original meaning, for instance when a politician uses parliamentary privilege to examine and then exculpate or condemn a powerful organisation or person.
context_section_description: In 1641, the Long Parliament, led by John Pym and inflamed by the severe treatment of John Lilburne, as well as that of other religious dissenters such as William Prynne, Alexander Leighton, John Bastwick and Henry Burton, abolished the Star Chamber with an Act of Parliament: the Habeas Corpus Act 1640.
  The Chamber itself stood until demolished in 1806, when its materials were salvaged.  The door was reused in the nearby Westminster School until destroyed in the blitz, and the historic Star Chamber ceiling, with its bright gold stars, was brought to Leasowe Castle on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside from the Court of Westminster, along with four tapestries depicting the four seasons.
caption: Engraving of the Star Chamber, published in "Old and new London" in 1873, taken from a drawing made in 1836
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