Charter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses of charter, see Charter (disambiguation).
A charter is a document bestowing certain rights on a town, city, university, land or institution; sometimes used as a loan of money. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights. The term derives from a root word meaning "paper".
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[edit] Origin
As John Fiske described in his 1890 treatise on the Origin of Civil Government in the United States:
- The word "charter" originally meant simply a paper or written document, and it was often applied to deeds for the transfer of real estate. In contracts of such importance papers or parchment documents were drawn up and carefully preserved as irrefragable evidences of the transaction. And so, in quite significant phrase the towns zealously guarded their charters as the "title-deeds of their liberties."
- After a while the word charter was applied in England to a particular document which specified certain important concessions forcibly wrung by the people from a most unwilling sovereign. This document was called Magna Carta, or the "Great Charter," signed at Runnymede, June 15, 1215, by John, king of England.
[edit] History
In Anglo-Saxon England charters were used to grant land rights.
Charters were issued in medieval times by Royal decree, perhaps giving a particular town the right to hold a weekly market, or to levy a toll on a road or bridge. This pledged to the King.
[edit] Legal status
A charter is a legally binding document incorporating an organization or institution and specifying its purpose, remit or bylaws. Organizations such as the Institution of Civil Engineers in the UK is chartered to maintain and advance the science and practice of civil engineering in the UK, and by this charter has the right to regulate the business of civil engineering in the UK; this gives rise to a status of a chartered engineer - one who satisfies the requirements of the charter holding organization. Royal Charters also exist and may have legal status in the case of Universities & similar bodies the power to award degrees normally comes from a Royal Charter.
[edit] Charter schools
In education, charter schools are becoming quite common.
[edit] Charter buses
Chartered buses are used by some groups of individuals who use a common bus in order to go on a trip or go on a tour of a certain location.
[edit] Charter flights
Charter flights are organised on behalf of a group of individuals who share seats on a plane to travel together to another destination. These flights can be organised by individuals on behalf of other individuals or by tour companies. These companies are commonly referred to as tour operators or inclusive tour (IT) companies. The latter term is used to refer to companies whose charter arrangements include accommodation as well as flights. These arrangements are also known as package holiday or package tours. Firms that charter aircraft without offering any accommodation are "seat-only" operators. In the UK any company or individual organising charter flights - with or without accommodation - on a commercial basis must obtain Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (ATOL) from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and must lodge a bond with it, which will be used to repatriate charter airline passengers whose tour organiser has failed and who are stranded abroad. The term charter flights generally refers to flights and seats on large jets such as those produced by Boeing or Airbus, and is usually a cheap way for individuals to fly on a set route at a set time. In contrast air charter typically involves smaller planes, where one individual or company wants to use the whole plane for a very specific flight at a time of their choosing, and is a much more expensive way to fly.
[edit] Charter colony
A charter colony is a type of colony that was established by a group of settlers that received a charter.
[edit] Charter member
The term charter member refers to a person or group who was among those participating in the creation of any chartered organization.
[edit] The Charter of Goods and Services
The term charter can refer to the letting, renting or hire of an object or a service. For instance yacht charter concerns the renting of a yacht and it's crew for a set period of time. Also, aircraft are chartered in the same way.
[edit] Newsgroup charter
On Usenet, newsgroups in the Big-8 and some other hierarchies must have a newsgroup charter spelling out the purpose of the newsgroup, what constitutes on-topic discussion, and whether or not the newsgroup is moderated.
[edit] See also
- Earth Charter
- Fueros (Spanish version)
- General incorporation law
- Papal Bull
- Royal Charter
- United Nations Charter
