Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/543

 1922 STAR CHAMBER UNDER THE TUDORS 535 James I sitting there ' five continual days in a chair of state elevated above the table about which his lords sat ' ; 1 and that king characteristically enough preened himself in the star chamber much as Henry VIII preened himself in the high court of parlia- ment. 2 The medieval king's council, therefore, continued its existence under the Elizabethan disguise of the court of star chamber. As Professor Baldwin has remarked, ' while other branches of the modern council were soon formed, it is particularly the court of star chamber which is to be regarded as the institutional con- tinuation of the original medieval council.' 3 The change in terminology from ' council in the star chamber ' to ' court of star chamber ' made of course not an atom of difference to the personnel or to the jurisdiction of the council or court. It was merely a popular verbal alteration, and so long as the ' court ' existed its legal designation was coram consilio. The change has, how- ever, on the one hand obscured the historical continuity of the king's council and the star chamber, and on the other illus- trated an important development in the history of political and constitutional ideas. The propriety, if not the necessity, of drawing a line in theory and in practice between executive and judicial functions took more and more hold of men's minds, and the two general words, council and court, were gradually given specific meanings in accordance with this differentiation. Council was to be reserved for the executive, court for the judicial, body. Thus we find that about the middle of the century the council in the white hall comes to be called the Court of Requests, 4 and, a little later perhaps, the council in the star chamber to be known as the court of star chamber. The indeterminate stage is well represented by 5 Eliz., c. 9, which speaks of the chancellor and others of the council determining matters in the court at West- minster commonly called the star chamber. This continuity bequeathed to the court of star chamber some ambiguity as to its composition. The Crown had before Elizabeth's reign established its claim to be the sole arbiter of the personnel of the privy council, while the peers had established theirs to be hereditary counsellors of the Crown in parliament. What was 1 Collectanea luridica, ii. p. 9. ed. Mcllwain, pp. 326-45), with Henry VIII's speech in parliament in 1642 (Holinshed iii. 956 ; Letters and Papers, xvii, pp. iv, 107). The King's Council, p. 442. Public Record Office List of Cases in the Court of Bequests, pref. ; Leadam calls the term ' court of requests ' ' an anachronistic but convenient name ' (p. xviii ; cf. pp. xiv-xv). The same is true of the court of star chamber and of the ' court ' of high commission ; but the utmost confusion is caused in constitutional history by assuming that constitutional terms had a definite meaning ab initio, before the institu- tions themselves had developed.
 * Compare James I's speech in the star chamber, 20 June 1616 (Political Works,