STARCH. 505 STARFISH. leaves are often found to contain large quantities of starch, especially at the end of a long period of bright illumination. The sugar formed by the process of photosynthesis (q.v.) is constantly dif- fusing away into other parts of the plant, but during periods of bright light it is formed more rapidly than it can dilfuse, and it is then con- densed by the chloroplasts to form starch. Dur- ing periods of darkness or of weak ilhiiuination, when the photosynthetie process ceases or lags, the starch of leaves is reconverted into sugar by the enzyme diastase (q.v.), and then difluses to other regions of the plant. Thus leaves seldom contain starch in the morning or on cloudy days. But b' far the greater part of the starch found in any plant is organized into grains by Icuco- plasts. By the action of these bodies, sugar which conies from the green leaves is condensed or polymerized into starch. Starch is thus formed in all parts of plants, being especially plentiful in tubers, in thickened roots, and in the endo- sperm and embryo of seeds. STAR CHAMBER. A celebrated English tri- bunal, which met in the council-chamber of the old palace of Westminster. The origin of the name is unknow'n. According to Sir Thomas Smith it was derived from a decoration of gilded stars on the ceiling. This theory is unsupported by evidence, but it is now well established that since the middle of Edward III.'s reign the star chamber ( Camera Stellata ) was the usual meet- ing place of the King's Council, or Privy Council, as it was afterwards known. The history of the Star Chamber Court is particularly associated with the act of 3 Henry VII., c. 1. By this statute the "chancellor and treasurer of England for the time being and keeper of the King's privy seal, or two of them, calling to them a bishop and a temporal lord of the King's most honorable Coimcil and the two chief jus- tices of the King's Bench and Common Pleas for the time being, or other two justices in their ab.sence," are given jurisdiction in seven offenses : Unlawful maintenance : giving of liveries, signs, or tokens : retainers by indentures, oaths, writ- ings, or otherwise ; embraceries of the King's sub- jects ; untrue demeanings of sheriflfs in the mak- ing of panels, and other untrue returns ; taking of money by juries; and great riots and unlawful assemblies. Since the days of Elizabeth it has been very commonly held that the historical Star Chamber was created by this act; and that its proper jurisdiction was restricted to the oll'enses just enumerated. Recent research has shown that such was not the case. The Star Chamber pos- sessed the entire jurisdiction of the King's Coun- cil. During the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. neither the membership nor the jurisdic- tion of the court conformed to the statute of 3 Henry VII., c. 1, as usually interpreted. More- over, the King's Council is seen performing the same functions as the court, whether sitting in the Camera Stellata or elsewhere ; and. converse- ly, the powers of the Star Chamber appear to be equivalent, even in State matters, to those of the Council itself. The Star Chamber, in fact, claimed its vast jurisdiction on the ground that it was the King's Council. As a criminal court, it could inflict any punishment short of death, and had cognizance of all cases that might be brought under the head of contempt of the royal authority. .Jurors were there punished for ver- dicts against the Crown. Offenders against the royal proclamations or the religious Taws were there condemned. 'Pile form of proceeding was by written information and interrogatories, e.x- cept when the accused person confessed, in which 'case the information and ])roceedings were oral; and out of this c.ce])tion grew one of the most flagrant abuses of this tribunal in the later period of its history. Regardless of the existing rule, that the confession' must be free and uncon- strained, pressure of every kind, including tor- ture, was used to procure acknowledgments of guilt ; admissions of the most immaterial facts were construed into confessions; and fine, impris- onment, and mutilation were inflicted on a mere oral proceeding, without hearing the accused, by a court consisting of the immediate representa- tives of prerogative. The proceedings of the Star Chamber had always been viewed with distrust by the commons ; but during the reign of Charles I. its excesses reached a height that made it ab- solutely odious to the country at large; and in the last Parliament of that sovereign a bill was carried in both Houses (16 Car. I., c. 10) which decreed its abolition. See especially Burn, The Star Chamber (London, 1870). STARE DECISIS, sta're de-sl'sis (from the Latin l<hirr rfcci.si.s-, ct non qtiicta movere — "to stand bj' decisions and not to disturb matters once settled"). A phrase employed to describe a doctrine prevailing in most judicial systems of modern times, which, briefly expressed, is that the courts will follow the principles of law de- clared in former decisions where they are not con- trary to the ordinary principles of justice. The theory on which this doctrine was established is that when a point of law is once decided it will be followed by the public as a guide. The doctrine of stare decisis does not apply to a decision until the time for appeal has elapsed; and a superior court may at any time overrule or repudiate the principles of a case previously decided in an inferior court and never appealed. Under such circumstances the original case erroneously de- cided would not be affected, and would remain res judicata between the parties thereto, but would no longer be cited as an authority. (L'ourts of equal jurisdiction in the same State are not bound by each other's decisions, and one United States circuit court is not bound by the decisions of another. The United States courts will usu- ally follow the decisions of the courts of the vari- ous States where an interpretation or applica- tion of their law^s is involved. The courts of one State are not bound by the decisions of the courts of another, nor by those of a foreign country. The courts are especially averse to disturbing the principles of law involving titles to and in- terests in real estate. The policy seems to be not to do so where it is only a question of expedi- ency, and to do so with caution where the prin- ciples of a decision are erroneous and will tend to work injustice in the future. Consult: Wells, The Doctrines of Res Adjudicata and Stare De- cisis (Des Moines). STARFISH. Ecbinoderms with a star-like or pentagonal body, with two or four rows of ambulacral feet or tentacles on the oral side. The body is covered with small, short spines, often arranged in groups. The nervous system is pentagonal, with nerves extending into the
