Magna Carta (British Library Cotton MS Augustus II

A charter is the grant of

authority In the fields of sociology and political science, authority is the legitimate power of a person or group over other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' is practiced in ways such a judicial branch or an executive branch of government.''The N ...

or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the recipient admits a limited (or inferior) status within the relationship, and it is within that sense that charters were historically granted, and it is that sense which is retained in modern usage of the term. The word entered the English language from the Old French ''charte'', via Latin ''charta'', and ultimately from Greek χάρτης (''khartes'', meaning "layer of papyrus"). It has come to be synonymous with a document that sets out a grant of rights or privileges.

Other usages

The term is used for a special case (or as an exception) of an institutional charter. A charter school, for example, is one that has different rules, regulations, and statutes from a state school. Charter can be used as a synonym for "hire" or "lease", as in the "charter" of a

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

or boat or plane. A charter member (US English) of an organization is an original member; that is, one who became a member when the organization received its charter. A chartered member (British English) is a member who holds an individual chartered designation authorized under that organization's royal charter.

Different types of charters

Anglo-Saxon charters

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

charters are documents from the

early medieval period The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They ...

in Britain which typically make a grant of land or record a privilege. They are usually written on parchment, in Latin but often with sections in the vernacular, describing the bounds of estates, which often correspond closely to modern parish boundaries. The earliest surviving charters were drawn up in the 670s; the oldest surviving charters granted land to the Church, but from the 8th century surviving charters were increasingly used to grant land to lay people.

Charter colony

The British Empire used three main types of colonies as it sought to expand its territory to distant parts of the earth. These three types were royal colonies,

proprietary colonies A proprietary colony was a type of English colony mostly in North America and in the Caribbean in the 17th century. In the British Empire, all land belonged to the monarch, and it was his/her prerogative to divide. Therefore, all colonial proper ...

, and corporate colonies. A charter colony by definition is a "colony chartered to an individual, trading company, etc., by the

British crown The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...

."charter colony - Definitions from Dictionary.com
/ref> Although charter colonies were not the most prevalent of the three types of colonies in the British Empire, they were by no means insignificant.

Congressional charter

A congressional charter is a law passed by the United States Congress that states the mission, authority, and activities of a group. Congress issued federal charters from 1791 until 1992 under Title 36 of the United States Code.

Municipal charter

A ''municipal corporation'' is the legal term for a

local governing body An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Most ...

, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships,

charter township A charter township is a form of local government in the U.S. state of Michigan. Townships in Michigan are organized governments. A charter township has been granted a charter, which allows it certain rights and responsibilities of home rule that ...

s, villages, and boroughs. ''Municipal incorporation'' occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which they are located. Often, this event is marked by the award or declaration of a municipal charter, a term used because municipal power was historically granted by the sovereign, by royal charter.

Order charter

Charters for chivalric orders and other orders, such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Project charter

In project management, a project charter or project definition (sometimes called the terms of reference) is provided by the sponsor to formally authorize the existence of a project. It provides a preliminary delineation of roles and responsibilities, outlines the project purpose and objectives, identifies key stakeholders, and defines the authority of the project manager. It serves as a reference of authority for future planning of the project. The project scope is developed from the project charter.

Royal charter

In medieval Europe, royal charters were used to create cities (i.e., localities with recognised legal rights and privileges). The date that such a charter was granted is considered to be when a city was "founded", regardless of when the locality originally began to be settled. The Charter of 1814, France's constitution during the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * ...

, was thus called to promote the legal fiction that the King had granted it “voluntarily, and by the free exercise of isroyal authority”, in the manner of medieval charters. At one time a royal charter was the only way in which an incorporated body could be formed, but other means (such as the registration process for

limited companies In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the lia ...

) are generally now used instead.

University charter

A university charter is a charter issued to create or recognise a university. The form of charter used varies by period and jurisdiction.

Inspeximus charter

A charter of "Inspeximus" (Latin, literally "We have inspected") is frequently a royal charter, by which an earlier charter or series of charters relating to a particular foundation (such as a monastery or a guild) was recited and incorporated into a new charter, usually in order to confirm and renew its validity under present authority. Where the original documents are lost, an inspeximus charter may sometimes preserve their texts and lists of witnesses.

Corporate charter

See

Articles of association In corporate governance, a company's articles of association (AoA, called articles of incorporation in some jurisdictions) is a document which, along with the memorandum of association (in cases where it exists) form the company's constituti ...

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Contract law Feudalism Legal documents Organizational documents Real property law