Star Chamber: An English court of law active in the Tudor and early Stuart periods, abolished by the Long Parliament in 1641. An outgrowth of the royal council, it was made up of privy councilors as well as judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters. Initially well regarded because of its speed and flexibility, Star Chamber became unpopular as the Stuart kings used it with increasing arbitrariness to enforce the royal prerogative. Its name thus became synonymous with secret, irresponsible court proceedings. (Academic American Encyclopedia).
During this period of English legal proceedings obtaining testimony by the use of instruments of torture was considered appropriate. The photo below shows such tools used during these times.
Kenneth Starr's 40 million dollar investigation is proceeding with this traditon. Political torture instead of physical torture. The most flagrant example is that of Monica Lewinsky's 10 hour interrogation with the FBI or President Clinton's inquistion before the Grand Jury.
The extracts from the Star Chamber Proceedings 1538-1597 contains 351 references to individuals. They are indexed here.
