Starr, or starra, was a term used in pre-fourteenth-century England for the contract or obligation of a Jew. It derives from the Hebrew שטר (shtar, "document"). [1]
By an ordinance of Richard I, no English starr was valid unless deposited in one of certain repositories, the best-known of which was the King's exchequer at Westminster. [1] It was once speculated that the room where these were kept became known as the "starr-chamber" as a result, [2] although this theory is dismissed by the Oxford English Dictionary.
The Star Chamber was an English court that 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 sufficiently powerful that ordinary courts might 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.
Tallage or talliage may have signified at first any tax, but became in England and France a land use or land tenure tax. Later in England it was further limited to assessments by the crown upon cities, boroughs, and royal domains. In effect, tallage was a land tax.
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar—not necessarily with a formal qualification in law or a legal practitioner, although in the United States the term "jurist" may be applied to a judge. With reference to Roman law, a "jurist" is a jurisconsult (jurisconsulta).
Sir William Blackstone was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the Commentaries on the Laws of England. Born into a middle-class family in London, Blackstone was educated at Charterhouse School before matriculating at Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1738. After switching to and completing a Bachelor of Civil Law degree, he was made a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, on 2 November 1743, admitted to Middle Temple, and called to the Bar there in 1746. Following a slow start to his career as a barrister, Blackstone became heavily involved in university administration, becoming accountant, treasurer and bursar on 28 November 1746 and Senior Bursar in 1750. Blackstone is considered responsible for completing the Codrington Library and Warton Building, and simplifying the complex accounting system used by the college. On 3 July 1753 he formally gave up his practice as a barrister and instead embarked on a series of lectures on English law, the first of their kind. These were massively successful, earning him a total of £453, and led to the publication of An Analysis of the Laws of England in 1756, which repeatedly sold out and was used to preface his later works.
Blackstone may refer to:
A legal fiction is a fact assumed or created by courts, which is then used in order to help reach a decision or to apply a legal rule. The concept is used almost exclusively in common law jurisdictions, particularly in England.
In the civil service of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's current account in the Consolidated Fund. It can be found used in various financial documents including the latest departmental and agency annual accounts.
The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, vargan, mouth harp, gewgaw, guimbard, khomus, Ozark harp, Berimbau de boca or murchunga, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or reed attached to a frame. Contrary to the name, the harp originated in China and has no relation to the Jewish People.
The Exchequer of Pleas, or Court of Exchequer, was a court that dealt with matters of equity, a set of legal principles based on natural law and common law in England and Wales. Originally part of the curia regis, or King's Council, the Exchequer of Pleas split from the curia in the 1190s to sit as an independent central court. The Court of Chancery's reputation for tardiness and expense resulted in much of its business transferring to the Exchequer. The Exchequer and Chancery, with similar jurisdictions, drew closer together over the years until an argument was made during the 19th century that having two seemingly identical courts was unnecessary. As a result, the Exchequer lost its equity jurisdiction. With the Judicature Acts, the Exchequer was formally dissolved as a judicial body by an Order in Council on 16 December 1880.
Mortmain is the perpetual, inalienable ownership of real estate by a corporation or legal institution; the term is usually used in the context of its prohibition. Historically, the land owner usually would be the religious office of a church; today, insofar as mortmain prohibitions against perpetual ownership still exist, it refers most often to modern companies and charitable trusts. The term mortmain is derived from Mediaeval Latin mortua manus, literally "dead hand", through Old French morte main.
The Privy Council of England, also known as HisMajesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, was a body of advisers to the sovereign of the Kingdom of England. Its members were often senior members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, together with leading churchmen, judges, diplomats and military leaders.
Elias of London also known as Elijah ben Moses or Elias le Evesque, was Presbyter Judaeorum in 13th-century England.
In property law, alienation is the voluntary act of an owner of some property to dispose of the property, while alienability, or being alienable, is the capacity for a piece of property or a property right to be sold or otherwise transferred from one party to another. Most property is alienable, but some may be subject to restraints on alienation.
Per minas, in English Common Law, is to engage in behaviour "by means of menaces or threats".
The Court of Exchequer Chamber was an English appellate court for common law civil actions before the reforms of the Judicature Acts of 1873–1875. It originated in the fourteenth century, established in its final form by a statute of 1585.
The Exchequer of the Jews was a division of the Court of Exchequer at Westminster, which recorded and regulated the taxes and the law-cases of the Jews in England and Wales. It operated from the late 1190s until the eventual expulsion of the Jews in 1290.
Slade's Case was a case in English contract law that ran from 1596 to 1602. Under the medieval common law, claims seeking the repayment of a debt or other matters could only be pursued through a writ of debt in the Court of Common Pleas, a problematic and archaic process. By 1558 the lawyers had succeeded in creating another method, enforced by the Court of King's Bench, through the action of assumpsit, which was technically for deceit. The legal fiction used was that by failing to pay after promising to do so, a defendant had committed deceit, and was liable to the plaintiff. The conservative Common Pleas, through the appellate court the Court of Exchequer Chamber, began to overrule decisions made by the King's Bench on assumpsit, causing friction between the courts.
Sir Jeffrey Gilbert (1674–1726) was an English barrister, judge and author who held office as Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in both Ireland and England. While he was serving as a judge in Ireland, a routine judgment he delivered unexpectedly led to a major political crisis, as a result of which he was briefly imprisoned. He later became renowned for his legal treatises, none of which were published in his lifetime.
Reports of cases in the Court of Exchequer, from E.T. 32, Geo. III., to T.T. 37, Geo. III. is the title of a collection of nominate reports, by Alexander Anstruther, of cases decided by the Court of Exchequer Chamber and the House of Lords between approximately 1792 and 1797. For the purpose of citation their name may be abbreviated to "Anst". They are in three volumes. They are reprinted in volume 145 of the English Reports.
Reports in Common Pleas and Exchequer, from E.T. 28 G. III., 1788, to H.T. 36 G. III., 1796 is the title of a collection of nominate reports, by Henry Blackstone, the nephew of Sir William Blackstone, of cases decided between approximately 1788 and 1796. For the purpose of citation their name may be abbreviated to "Bl H". They are in two volumes. They are reprinted in volume 126 of the English Reports.