Charter (Lat. charta; Gr. chartē, 'paper,' or 'anything written upon,' from charasso, 'I scratch' or 'write'). In its most general signification, charter is nearly synonymous with deed and instrument (see DEED), and is applied to almost any formal writing, in evidence of a grant, contract, or other transaction between man and man. In private law, its most important use is in the alienation of real estates, the writing given to the new proprietor by the old, in proof of the transference title, being usually called a charter. In public law, the name is given to those formal deeds by which sovereigns guarantee the rights and privileges of their subjects, or by which a sovereign state guarantees those of a colony or other dependency (see CHARTE, MAGNA CHARTA). There is another sense of the term in which it is in a measure intermediate between the two we have mentioned—viz. where we speak of the charter of a bank or other company or association. In this sense it signifies an instrument by which powers and privileges are conferred by the state on a select body of persons for a special object (see BANK, CORPORATION, JOINT-STOCK COMPANY, &c.).
This is the general use of the term in the United States. It is a grant of authority from the state or the United States, creating a corporation, defining its powers, privileges, rights, and franchises. A charter of a private corporation, on the faith of which property has been given, is a contract within the meaning of the United States Constitution, Article I., sect. 10, which declares that no state shall make a law impairing the obligation of contracts. And while the state legislatures have no power to set aside or essentially modify charters that come within this prohibition, without the consent of the corporators, it is confined to transactions involving property and rights which may be asserted in a court of justice. This prohibition does not debar the state from exercising the right of eminent domain, nor prevent the exercise of its general police power. Charters of municipal and public corporations are not beyond legislative control; and the power to change and adapt them to the purposes for which they were created is implied in every enactment creating them. But most of the charters in the United States have in them a clause reserving to the state the power to alter, amend, or repeal them at pleasure. In some states the courts have power to grant charters to social, charitable, and religious organisations, while the state officers are authorised by law to grant charters for manufacturing, mining, railroad, and other corporations for purposes of trade.
Royal Charters, generally written in Latin, are of two kinds: I. Grants of lands, houses, honours, or liberties to persons who did not previously possess them; II. Charters confirming grants previously made, and therefore called 'Charters of Confirmation.' Confirmation charters are of three kinds: (1) Charters confirming previous grants, without reciting them; (2) Charters of simple confirmation, without addition of anything new; (3) Charters reciting previous charters and confirming them, with addition of something new. These last two classes of charters are called charters of 'Inspeximus,' or 'Vidimus,' from the word used by the granter in saying that he has seen the charter which he confirms. Royal charters generally contain seven clauses: (1) The 'Premisses'—i.e. the name and style of the granter, the persons to whom the charter is addressed, the name and style of the grantee, the reason why the grant is made, and the description of the thing granted; (2) the 'Tenendum and Habendum'—i.e. the way in which the thing granted is to be held and had; (3) the 'Reddendo,' the return of rent or service which is to be made to the granter by the grantee; (4) the 'Quare Volvimus,' or order that the grantee should have the thing granted, under certain penalties; (5) the 'Sealing' or 'Signature' clause, setting forth the seal, signature, or subscription by which the charter is authenticated; (6) the 'His Testibus,' or testing-clause, enumerating the persons present as witnesses to the granting of the charter; (7) the 'Date,' setting forth the time when, and the place where, the charter was granted.
Charter in the law of Scotland is the written evidence of a grant of heritable property under the conditions imposed by the feudal law—viz. that the grantee, or person obtaining, shall pay at stated periods a sum of money, or perform certain services to the granter, or person conferring the property. The granter of a charter, in virtue of the power which he thus retains over the property and its proprietor, is called the superior; and the grantee, in consequence of the services which he undertakes to render, the vassal; whilst the stipulated sum to be paid, or service to be rendered, is called the duty.
Charters are either blench or feu, from the nature of the service stipulated—a me or de me, from the kind of holding or relation between the granter and grantee; and original or by progress, from being first or renewed grants of the subjects in question.
Blench and Feu Charters.—The duty which the superior required of his vassal in former times was almost always military service, and the vassal was then technically said 'to hold ward'—to hold on condition of warding or defending his superior. But subsequent to the rebellion of 1745, in which the dangerous tendencies of the feudal relation were experienced, this holding was abolished (20 Geo. III. chap. 50), and the only duties which it has since been lawful to insert in charters are blench and feu duties. The former is a merely nominal payment—a penny Scots, a red rose, or the like, si petatur tantum (should it be asked); the latter is a consideration of some real value. Original blench charters having lost all object, and having no other effect but that of subjecting superiors to considerable expense in keeping up their titles, have become rare in modern practice. The forms of charters varying according to the circumstances in which they are granted, and the relations established between the granter and grantee, are of a highly technical nature.
The Charter of Resignation proceeds upon the formal surrender of the lands or other rights into the hands of the superior for the purpose of obtaining a new grant in favour of the resigner, with some change of the destination, or in favour of a purchaser or other disponee. This is termed a resignation in favorem. But when the property is surrendered in order to remain with the superior, the resignation is then said to be ad remanentiam. In former times resignations were transacted with solemn formality by delivery of a staff or baton, as the symbol of surrender, into the hands of the superior, who, if the purpose was in favorem, returned the symbolic staff to the person to be invested with the lands, or to his attorney, the whole transaction being recorded in the form of a notarial instrument.
Crown charters of resignation or confirmation proceed upon the warrant of the Barons of Exchequer, as the royal commissioners in Scotland since the union of the crowns, for receiving resignations and granting new infestments to crown vassals. The charter is preceded by the signature or order under the royal superscription, with consent of the barons, setting forth the terms in which the charter is to be expressed. After several other proceedings, the charter is finally completed by sealing. Previous to 1707 the Great Seal of Scotland was appended to crown charters, but by the treaty of union another seal was substituted. The royal charters of Scotland are recorded in the Register of the Great Seal, which is extant from about 1300 A.D., and continued to the present time. There are, however, numerous charters by the early Scottish kings not recorded in the Register, but extant in private collections and in the chartularies of religious houses. Ancient charters are usually remarkable for the excellence of their writing and the brevity and conciseness of their style. See Innes' Lectures on Legal Antiquities; Chassat's Traité des Statuts, &c.
(Paris, 1845); Bell's Law Dictionary; Menzies on Conveyancing.