CHARTER. 



CHARTEK. 



784 



that government, short lived and unacceptable to the French people 

 M erenu teemed to prove, it U unnecessary to dwell ; nor need we do 

 more than advert to the rapid and startling changes by which the 

 administration oi affairs WM surrendered to one imlividu.il, and the 

 form of government altered from a republic one and indivisible, to an 

 empire absolute and uncontrollable. But between the acta of that 

 drama, the downfall of the republic and the elevation of the empire, a 

 new constitution WM promulgated on the 14th of January, 1852, pre- 

 ceded by a proclamation addressed to the French people, in which the 

 principle* of the Revolution of 1789 were emphatically appealed to, 

 and the Constitution of the year viii. of the Republic, with the 

 Napoleonic modification*, relied upon a* the foundation of the new. 

 sjiUm The constitution thu proclaimed contains eight chapters, 

 in the first of which the announcement of the constitution is solemnly 

 made ; in the seoond, the forms of the government are stated ; in the 

 third, the position and duties of the president are fixed ; in the fourth, 

 fifth, and sixth, the senate, the legislative body, and the council of 

 state are defined ; in the seventh, the high court of justice is described ; 

 and the eighth contains certain general and transitory provision*. To 

 this constitution a decree was added, consisting of thirty-four art i< ). -. 

 constituting and regulating the council of state ; and on the 22ml of 

 January, sundry other decrees appeared, by one of which an office 

 called that of minister of state was established, whose functions were 

 carefully defined. A decree of the 22nd of March was promulgated, 

 with the view of describing the relations of the senate and legislative 

 chamber to the council of state, and securing the harmonious action of 

 these three bodies. Finally, on the 23rd of December, 1852, another 

 decree, or rather senatus consultum, appeared, by which Napoleon, by 

 the grace of God and the national will, emperor of the French, ex- 

 plained and modified the Constitution of January 14th, 18.r_'. Kor the 

 particulars of this document, as well as those above-mentioned, the 

 reader is referred to the ' Annual Register ' for the year 1852. 



CHARTER. This word is from the Latin char I a, a. word of uncertain 

 origin : the Greek form of the word is chartei (xdfmjs). Charta appears 

 to have signified writing-material made of papyrus. The term was 

 afterwards applied, not only to the materials for writing, but to the 

 writing itself, as to a letter or the leaf of a book. In English law it 

 was nsed to denote any public instrument, deed, or writim; 

 written evidence of things done between man and man, and standing as 

 a perpetual record. (Bracton, lib. 2, c. 26.) Among the Saxona such 

 instruments were known as gem-ite, or writings. 



Charters are divided into : 1. Charters of the crown ; 2. Charters of 

 private persons. 



1. Royal charters were used at a very early period, for grants of 

 privileges, exemptions, lands, honours, pardon, and other benefits that 

 the crown had to confer ; and thus the term became restricted to 

 such instruments as conferred some right or franchise. These instru- 

 ments did not differ in form from letters patent, being usually addressed 

 by the king to all his subjects, and exposed to open view, with the 

 great seal pendent at the bottom ; but such as contained grants of 

 particular kinds were distinguished by the name of charters. Thus, 

 as giving was the object of a charter, the term became very popular, 

 and was used in a more extended sense, to denote laws of a popular 

 character. 



Whatever may have been the prerogatives and legislative authority 

 of the kings of England, it in certain that from the earliest times there 

 were many righU and liberties which by the law of the land belonged 

 to the people. As these were often restrained and violated, nothing 

 WM more acceptable to the nation than a formal recognition of them by 

 the crown ; and the popular name of charter was applied to those 

 written laws by which the kings from time to time confirmed or 

 enlarged the liberties of the people. Such laws were regarded, not only 

 as concessions from the king, but as contracts between man and man 

 between the king and his subjects ; while, at the same time, they 

 were promulgated as the legislative acts of the sovereign authority in 

 the (tato. 



The charter of William the Conqueror, for observing the laws 

 throughout England, was in the nature of n public law. It settled the 

 religion of the state, and provided for its peace and government, for 

 the administration of justice, the punishment of criminals, and the 

 regulation of markets ; it confirmed the titles to lands, and the exemp- 

 tion of the tenants In chief of the crown from all unjust exact 

 from tallage. The words are those of a lawgiver appointing at 

 manding; " tafirimin," " rnlumui rt fnntler ;>rcn/;iro>i.<," " .'. 

 mw," "derrttnm r*t," are the expressions by which m. .tiers are ordered 

 or prohibited. (' Fnsdera Rec. Comni. Ed./ vol. i. p. 1.) 



The charters of liberties granted by Henry I., Stephen, Henry 11., 

 .Tohn, Henry HI., and Edward I. are all, more or less, in the nature of 

 law*, cither making new provisions, or confirming, enlarging, 

 and explaining existing laws, and relate to the freedom And good 

 government of the people, and all the most important interests of the 

 country. Some of them are still regarded as authoritative declaration* 

 of the rights and privileged which the people of England have enjoyed 

 for centuries. So valid and binding were the royal charters considered, 

 that in the 37 Hen. III. (1258), in the presence of the king, several of 

 the first noble*, "and other estates of the realm of England." the 

 archbishop and bishops, excommunicated and accursed all who should 

 rich* or change " the Church'* liberties or the ancient approved 



customs of the realm, and chiefly the liberties contained in the 

 charters of the common liberties and of the forest, granted l< 

 lord the king." In those times no sanction more solemn could have 

 been given to the authority of any law. It was intended chiefly as a 

 check upon the king himself, whose power had been restrained by the 

 popular concessions made in the charters of liberties ; but it was also 

 directed against all his subjects who should violate the liberties 

 people. [MAUN v CIIAHTA.] 



These charter-laws, though often expressed to have been in 

 the advice of the king's council, implied an absolute legislative power 

 vested in the crown ; and as royal prerogative became restrained and 

 the public liberties enlarged, legislation by charter was gradually 

 superseded by the statutes and ordinances made in parliament. I > 

 the reigns of Henry 111. ami Edward I. laws were promulgated ii 

 forms; but since that time statutes and ordinances have been 4 In- 

 only records of legislation not differing materially, at first, either in 

 form or in the nature of the authority from which tin ;, 

 from the charters of earlier reigns, but gradually assuming their 

 present character as acts agreed to by the entire legislature. 



But notwithstanding the discontinuance of the practice of promul- 

 gating general laws by royal charter to bind the whole kingd<v 

 exercise of prerogative, by means of charters, has partaken of a legis- 

 lative cliaracter throughout the entire history of the British ^ 

 ment. Some of the most ancient and important of these were charters 

 to boroughs and municipal bodies, conferring immunities and fr.u 

 of which the greatest was that of sending representatives to parliament. 

 There are still extant municipal charters of the Saxon kings, and ..f t he 

 Norman kings after the Conquest, conferring various rij-'l 

 inhabitants of boroughs, of which an exclusive jurisdiction wan 

 one; but the first charter of incorporation to any municipal 

 appears to have been granted in 1C'.. 1 , in the reign of }i 

 Kingston-upon-Hull ; although, in the absence of prior charters, 

 been usual to presume that charters confirming existing usages had 

 been lost. 



Between the reigns of Henry VIII. and Charles II. no les 

 180 members were added to the House of Commons by royal charter, 

 the last borough upon which that right was conferred in this manner 

 having been Newark, in 1678. Several of these were roughs 



v.hich had ceased to send members, and whose rights wcr 

 restored by charter ; while some towns, expressly created boroughs by 

 charter, did not send members to parliament for centuries afterwards, 

 as Queenborough, for example, to which a chaiier was granted in 1868, 

 Imt which did not return members until 1578. Hence it has been 

 argued that, notwithstanding the practice of later reigns, the chn 

 the crown alone was not sufficient in law to entitle a Imrn to send 

 members to parliament, although expressly created n borough, to 

 which, by the common law. the rii;ht of sending members v 

 This view derives confirmation from the acknowledged law that the 

 crown was unable, by charter, to cxcmpT a linron^h from returning 

 members, since that right was always held to be exercised i 

 benefit of the whole realm, and not for the advantage of the particular 

 place. Upon these grounds, a charter of exemption to the citizens of 

 York was declared void by Act of Parliament, 2 Henry VI. c. 3. But 

 as parliamentary representation, after having been made the subject of 

 legislation by parliament under Henry VIII., has now been compre- 

 hensively arranged for the whole kingdom by Statute, the legal 

 of royal charters upon the elective franchise has become a question 

 merely of historical interest. The peculiar rights of corporatim 

 also been determined by the Municipal Corporations Act (5 &6 Will. IV. 

 c. 76), which has since ita passing been amended by a long series of 

 statutes. A power is reserved to the crown, with the advice <.f the 

 privy council, to grant charters of incorporation to other towns, upon 

 the petition of the inhabitants, and to extend to them the j 

 the Act. 



Charters were formerly granted by the crown which estnl 

 monopolies in the buying, selling, making, working, or using - 

 things; an injurious practice, contrary t the ancient 

 mental laws of the realm, which wag abolished by 21 James I. c. S. 

 | MUM i POLY.] 



The crown has ever exercised, and still retains, the prerogative of 

 ratiiiK universities, colleges, companies, ami other public bodies, 

 granting them, by charter, powers and pi 



with the common law. But as the most considerable bodies ordinarily 



require powers which no authority but that of parliament is nble to 



siirh corporations as the l',,nt India Company and the Bank of 



I. which were originally est.ilili.-hed l.y royal charter, have long 



their extraor.lin s from Act* of I'ailiamcnt, as 



well as other public companies which have been incorporated in the 



But the largest powers now conferred l.y royal charter are 



'd with the colonies and foreign possessions of the crown. 

 Whenever a new country is obtained by conquest or treaty, the crown 

 possesses an exclusive prerogative power over it. and l.y royal charters 

 may establish it* laws and the form of its government; may erect 

 court* of justice, of civil and criminal jurisdiction, and otherwi 



T it* municipal order, for raiding its revenue. rui<l (lie regu- 

 lation of it* commerce, This power of the crown, however, is 

 subject, through the responsibility of ministers, to the ultimate control 



