Starr (law)

{{Short description|Starra, was a term used in pre-fourteenth-century England for the contract or obligation of a Jew}}

{{Other uses|Starr (disambiguation)}}

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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 {{Script/Hebrew|שטר}} (shtar, "document").Henry C. Black, Black's Law Dictionary, rev. 4th ed. 1968, [https://archive.org/details/B-001-001-745/page/n1653 1578].

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. 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.