LETTERS-PATENT (in Law), the king's letters, sealed with the great seal. These grants, says Blackstone (2 Comment.' p. 319, Mr. Kerr's Rd.), whether of Lends, honours, liberties, franchises, or anything else that can be granted, are contained in charters or letters-patent, that is, open letters, litercrygocnics. They aro so called bemuse they are not sealed up, but open to view, with the great seal pendant at the bottom, and are usually directed or addressed by the king to all his subjects at large. Letters-patent, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, as well as in several preceding reigns, were not unusually obtained for purposes of mere monopoly.
They are now frequently granted under the royal authority as the reward of ingenuity, and are in scene cases the only means by which a man can secure any compensation for a discovery, or for the Labour and expense which ho may have employed in perfecting an invention. The consideration of the legal rights of patentees, and of the modes in which they may be acquired and properly belongs to the head of PATENTS. At present it may be sufficient to refer the reader to
Collier's Essay on the Law of Patents for New Inventions, to which are prefixed two chapters on the general history of monopolies, and on their introduction and progress in England to the time of the Inter 8vo., Lond., 1S03; to Hand's Law and Practice of Patents for Inventions,' Svo., Lend., 1808 ; Godson's Practical Treatise en the Law of Patents,' 8vo., Lond.,1823, with the Supplement,' Svo., Loud., 1832; and Rankin's 'Analysis of the Lew of Patents,' 8vo., Lend., 3824. The Patent Law Amendment Act 1852, now regulates the terms upon which letters patent for inventions are granted. See Mr. Kerr's Blackstone,' voL 2, p. 417.
Many letters-patent have been granted by the king to the founders of schools and other charitable endowments, empowering the donor to make rules and ordinances for the government of his charity, and con stituting into a body corporate those persons and their successors whom the founder should choose or nominate.