Charter

(chahrtr.) [Fr. charte, fromGr. chartēs, a leaf of paper.] (Law and Pol.) A written instrument, executed with certain forms and solemnities, by which a sovereign bestows privileges on towns, corporations, communities, ., or to the whole people. The most celebrated C. are the Magna Charta, the basis of English liberty, signed by King John in 1215, and frequently violated and confirmed by himself and succe ors; the constitutional C. promulgated in 1814 by Louis XVIII., which was the fundamental law of the French realm under the Restoration, and the violation of which by Charles X. caused the revolution of 1830; and the C. voted by the French Chamber of Deputies and accepted by Louis Philippe, Aug. 8, 1830, and by which the national sovereignty was proclaimed. The kings of England granted to many of the early American colonies a Charter government, by which they were permitted to establish a government, and make laws for their own regulation. [s. 169]