CHARTER, a written instrument, contract, or convention by which grants of property or of rights and privileges are confirmed and held. The use of the word for any written document is obso lete in England, but is preserved in France, e.g., the Ecole des Chartes at Paris. In feudal times charters of privileges were granted, not only by the Crown, but by mesne lords both lay and ecclesiastical, as well to communities, such as boroughs, gilds and religious foundations, as to individuals. In modern usage grants by charter have become all but obsolete, though in England this form is still used in the incorporation by the Crown of certain public bodies (see CHARTERED COMPANIES).
The grant of the Great Charter by King John in 1215 (see MAGNA CARTA), which guaranteed the preservation of English liberties, led to a special association of the word with constitu tional privileges, and so in modern times it has been applied to constitutions granted by sovereigns to their subjects, in contra distinction to those based on "the will of the people." Such was the Charter (Charte) granted by Louis XVIII. to France in 1814. In Portugal the constitution granted by Dom Pedro in 1826 was called by the French party the "Charter," while that devised by the Cortes in 1821 was known as the "Constitution." Magna Carta also suggested to the English radicals in 1838 the name "People's Charter," which they gave to their published pro gramme of reforms (see CHARTISM). This association of the idea of liberty with the word charter led to its figurative use in the sense of freedom or licence. The common colloquialism "to charter," in the sense of to take, or hire, is derived from the spe cial use of "to charter" as to hire (a ship) by charter-party.