Starr, or starra, was a term used in pre-fourteenth century

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for the contract or obligation of a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

. It derives from the Hebrew (''shtar'', "document").Henry C. Black, ''Black's Law Dictionary'', rev. 4th ed. 1968
1578
By an ordinance of

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

, no English starr was valid unless deposited in one of certain repositories, the best-known of which was the King's exchequer at Westminster. It was once speculated that the room where these were kept became known as the " starr-chamber" as a result,William Blackstone, ''Blackstone's Commentaries on the Law'', 266, 267, note ''a''. although this theory is dismissed by the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

References

English contract law Jewish English history Medieval English law {{Jewish-hist-stub

See also

References