CHARTER

a written instrument conferring certain privileges, granted by the Crown, the most famous example in Eng. history being Magna Carta given by Tinie John, SOs oe now platy granted to Univ’s, corporations, public} companies, and similar bodies. term is also used in the sense of ‘to hire,’ as to charter a ve el; and was used by Shakespeare in the sense of license|@nd (‘charter’d libertine’). ‘CHARTERED COMPANIES are trading corporations existing under charter from a sovereign power, usually for a fixed period, and limited by clearly defined I regulations. 4 Such companies s existed amongst foreign nations long before they were instituted by Eng. merchants. The Hanseatic League, which maintained its Eng. branch at a|_ place known as the Steel Yard, on the Thames embankment, until the yard was closed by Queen Elizabeth, dates from the XIII. cent. Eng. trading comanies came into existence under Elizath. The most famous was the East India Company, instituted for the purose of Dante, up an Eng. trade with Tndia and the Far East. It received its first charter in 1600, and became the ruling power in India, and it was not until 1858 that its powers were finally absorbed by the Crown. Second only in importance is Hudson’s Bay Company, which was established in 1670, when Charles II. | granted a charter to Prince Rupert and seventeen other speculators, who were described as ‘the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading -,|into Hudson’s Bay.’ Other early companies were the Turkey and Ru ian Companies, while later institutions have been the National African’ Co., 1881, de| which secured the lower Niger for Brit. trade, the Brit, North Borneo Co., 1881; Royal Niger Co., 1886; which enjoyed all rights of government in its territories until they were incorporated with N. and S. Nigeria, 1900; the Imperial Brit. East Africa Co., 1888.