star chamber

• POS: Noun Phrase
• HYPHEN: Star Cham=ber

CIDE DICTIONARY

star chamber, n. [So called (as conjectured by Blackstone) from being held in a room at the Exchequer where the chests containing certain Jewish contracts and obligations called starrs (from the Heb. shetar, pron. shtar) were kept; or from the stars with which the ceiling is supposed to have been decorated.].

•  An ancient high court exercising jurisdiction in certain cases, mainly criminal, which sat without the intervention of a jury. It consisted of the king's council, or of the privy council only with the addition of certain judges. It could proceed on mere rumor or examine witnesses; it could apply torture. It was abolished by the Long Parliament in 1641.  Encyc. Brit.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any court, committee, or other tribunal which exercises arbitrary and unaccountable power, or uses unfair or illegal methods, in investigation or judgment of persons.  [PJC]

ROGET THESAURUS

star chamber

Tribunal

N tribunal, court, board, bench, judicatory, court of justice, court of law, court of arbitration, administrative court, inquisition, guild, justice seat, judgment seat, mercy seat, woolsack, bar of justice, dock, forum, hustings, bureau, drumhead, jury box, witness box, senate house, town hall, theater, House of Commons, House of Lords, statehouse, townhouse, assize, eyre, wardmote, burghmote, barmote, superior courts of Westminster, court of record, court oyer and terminer, court assize, court of appeal, court of error, High court of Judicature, High court of Appeal, Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Star Chamber, Court of Chancery, Court of King's or Queen's Bench, Court of Exchequer, Court of Common Pleas, Court of Probate, Court of Arches, Court of Admiralty, Lords Justices' court, Rolls court, Vice Chancellor's court, Stannary court, Divorce court, Family court, Palatine court, county court, district court, police court, sessions, quarter sessions, petty sessions, court-leet, court-baron, court of pie poudre, court of common council, board of green cloth, court martial, drumhead court martial, durbar, divan, Areopagus, Irota, judicial, appellate, die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht.