CHARTE

(LaL charta, paper.) In French History, originally used to indicate the rights and privileges granted by the French kings to various towns and communities; but applied at present to the fundamental law of the French monarch bed on the restoration of Louis XVIII. in 181!• The Ohurtt consists of 69 articles, and is founded on principles analogous lo those of the British constitution,as embodied originallv in the Magna Charta, and subtequeollyexteodedlnlbe Bill of Rights. As is well known, it was lbs violation of an article of the Charle by the Min Charles X. that led lo the revolution of 1830, the expulsion of that monarch from the throne, and the establishment of the present dynasty. Since that time IheCharte has undergone a few modifications, the chief of which consists In the abolition of the hereditary peerage. (Seethe Almanac Royal et National, published annually.) [s. 231]