126 



CHARTER 



colony or other dependency (see CHARTE, MAGNA 

 CHART A ). 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 associa- 

 tion. 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 BANKING, CORPORATION, an,d (under 

 Company) 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, defin- 

 ing 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 con- 

 tracts. And while the state legislatures have no 

 power to set aside or essentially modify charters 

 that come within this prohibition, without the con- 

 sent of the corporators, it is confined to transac- 

 tions 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 

 socia^ charitable, and religious organisations, while 

 the state officers are authorised oy 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 previ- 

 ously 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 con- 

 firmation, without addition of anything new ; 

 ( 3 ) Charters reciting previous charters and confirm- 

 ing 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 gener- 

 ally contain seven clauses : ( 1 ) The ' Premises 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 Volumus,' 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 stipu- 

 lated 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 feii 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 consider- 

 able 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 be- 

 tween 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 obtain- 

 ing 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 infavorem. But when the property is. 

 surrendered in order to remain with the superior, 

 the resignation is then said to be ad remanenliam. 

 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 te 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 Ex- 

 chequer, as the royal commissioners in Scotland 

 since the union of the crowns, for receiving resig- 

 nations and granting new infeftments to crown 

 vassals. The charter is preceded by the signature 

 or order under the royal superscription, with con- 

 sent 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 Scot- 

 land 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 Traite des Statuts, dsc. 



