This enabled corporations that had existed from time immemorial to be recognised as incorporated via the legal fiction of a "lost charter". The use of royal charters to incorporate organisations gave rise to the concept of the "corporation by prescription". Until the 19th century, royal charters were the only means other than an act of parliament by which a company could be incorporated in the UK, the Joint Stock Companies Act 1844 opened up a route to incorporation by registration, since when incorporation by royal charter has been, according to the Privy Council, "a special token of Royal favour or. Early charters to such companies often granted trade monopolies, but this power was restricted to Parliament from the end of the 17th century. Corporations īetween the 14th and 19th centuries, royal charters were used to create chartered companies – for-profit ventures with shareholders, used for exploration, trade and colonisation. Īmong the past and present groups formed by royal charter are the Company of Merchants of the Staple of England (13th century), the British East India Company (1600), the Hudson's Bay Company, the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (since merged into Standard Chartered), the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), the British South Africa Company, and some of the former British colonies on the North American mainland, City livery companies, the Bank of England and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). After the eighth year of Henry VIII, all grants under the Great Seal were issued as letters patent. until the reign of Henry VIII, with letters patent being used for less solemn grants. Royal charters were used in England to make the most formal grants of various rights, titles, etc. During the 14th and 15th century the concept of incorporation of a municipality by royal charter evolved. Historical development Ĭharters have been used in Europe since medieval times to grant rights and privileges to towns, boroughs and cities. Charters continue to be issued by the British Crown, a recent example being that awarded to The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives - (CILEX), and The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, in 2014. The earliest charter recorded on the UK government's list was granted to the University of Cambridge by Henry III of England in 1231, although older charters are known to have existed including to the Worshipful Company of Weavers in England in 1150 and to the town of Tain in Scotland in 1066. The British monarchy has issued over 1,000 royal charters. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organisations such as boroughs (with municipal charters), universities and learned societies.Ĭharters should be distinguished from royal warrants of appointment, grants of arms and other forms of letters patent, such as those granting an organisation the right to use the word "royal" in their name or granting city status, which do not have legislative effect. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but since the 14th century have only been used in place of private acts to grant a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent.
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