CHARTE

(Lat.charta,/70joer.) 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 F'rench monarchy, as established on the restoration of Louis XVIII. in 1814. The Charte consists of GO articles, and is founded on principles analogous to those of the British constitution, as embodied originally in the Magna Charta, and subsequently extended in the Bill of Rights. As is well known, it was the violation of an article of the Charte by the Ministers of Charles X. that led to the revolution of 1830, the expulsion of that monarch from the throne, and the establishment of the present dynasty. Since that time the Charte has undergone a few modifications, the chief of which consists in the abolition of the hereditary peerage. (See the Almanac Royal et National, published annually.) [s. 228]