Editing Letters patent

{{Short description|Type of published legal instrument}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=April 2009}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2017}}
[[File:Letters Patent Australia.jpg|thumb|Letters patent issued by [[Queen Victoria]] in 1900 creating the office of [[Governor-General of Australia]] as part of the process of [[Federation of Australia|Federation]]]]
[[File:1768 transfer of the University to Nancy.jpg|thumb|upright|Letters patent transferring a predecessor of the [[University of Lorraine]] to [[Nancy, France|Nancy]] in 1768]]

'''Letters patent''' ([[plurale tantum|plural form for singular and plural]]) are a type of [[legal instrument]] in the form of a published written order issued by a [[monarch]], [[President (government title)|president]] or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, [[government-granted monopoly|monopoly]], title or status to a person or [[corporation]]. Letters patent can be used for the creation of [[corporation]]s, government offices, to grant city status or [[heraldry|coats of arms]]. Letters patent are issued for the appointment of representatives of [[the Crown]], such as [[governor]]s and [[governor-general|governors-general]] of [[Commonwealth realm]]s, as well as appointing a [[Royal Commission]]. In the [[United Kingdom]], they are also issued for the creation of [[peers of the realm]].

A particular form of letters patent has evolved into the modern [[intellectual property]] patent (referred to as a utility [[patent]] or [[design patent]] in [[United States patent law]]) granting exclusive rights in an [[invention]] or design. In this case, it is essential that the written grant should be in the form of a public document so other inventors can consult it both to avoid infringement (while the patent remains in force) and to understand how to put it into practical use (once the patent rights expire). In the [[Holy Roman Empire]], [[Austrian Empire]], and [[Austria-Hungary]], imperial patent was also the highest form of generally binding legal regulations, e.g. [[Patent of Toleration]], [[Serfdom Patent (1781)|Serfdom Patent]], etc.

The opposite of letters patent are ''[[letters close]]'' ({{langx|la|litterae clausae}}), which are personal in nature and sealed so that only the recipient can read their contents. Letters patent are thus comparable to other kinds of [[open letter]] in that their audience is wide. It is not clear how the contents of letters patent became widely published before collection by the addressee, for example whether they were left after sealing by the king for inspection during a certain period by courtiers in a royal palace, who would disseminate the contents back to the gentry in the shires through normal conversation and social intercourse. Today, for example, it is a convention for the British prime minister to announce that they have left a document they wish to enter the public domain "in the [[House of Commons Library|library]] of the [[House of Commons]]", where it may be freely perused by all members of [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|parliament]].

==Meaning==
Letters patent are so named from the Latin verb ''{{lang|la|patī}}'', ''{{lang|la|patior}}'', to lie open, exposed, accessible.<ref>''Cassell's Latin Dictionary'', revised by Marchant & Charles, 260th. thousand</ref> The originator's [[seal (emblem)|seal]] was attached ''[[seal (emblem)#Practices|pendent]]'' from the document, so that it did not have to be broken in order for the document to be read.

They are called "letters" (plural) from their Latin name ''{{lang|la|litterae patentes}}'', used by medieval and later scribes when the documents were written in Latin. This loanword preserves the collective plural "letters" (''litterae'') that the Latin language uses to denote a message as opposed to a single alphabet letter (''littera'').<ref>''Cassell's Latin Dictionary'', revised by Marchant & Charles, 260th. thousand: "Literae, Plur: that which is written; Cicero: ''Dare alicui literas'' (plur) ''ad aliquem'': to give to a messenger a letter for a third person"</ref>

==Usage==
Letters patent are a form of open or public [[proclamation]]<ref>E.g. document dated 13 July 1527 issued ''Teste Rege'' titled: "A Proclamation for establishing of trade and merchandizing and traffique within the towne and marches of Callice with divers immunities and freedoms concerning the same", which is self-referenced  in the document by the phrase "by theis his lettres patentes of proclamacion" [[John Gough Nichols|Nichols, John Gough]]. [https://archive.org/stream/chronicleofcalai00turprich/chronicleofcalai00turprich_djvu.txt ''The Chronicle of Calais from the Reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII to the year 1540'', London, 1846] p.102</ref> and a vestigial exercise of extra-parliamentary power by a monarch or president.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

They can thus be contrasted with the [[Act of Parliament]], which is in effect a written order by Parliament involving [[royal assent|assent]] by the monarch in conjunction with its members. No explicit government approval is contained within letters patent, only the seal or signature of the monarch.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Parliament today tolerates only a very narrow exercise of the royal prerogative by issuance of letters patent, and such documents are issued with prior informal government approval, or indeed are now generated by government itself with the monarch's seal affixed as a mere formality. In their original form they were simply written instructions or orders from the sovereign, whose order was law, which were made public to reinforce their effect.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

For the sake of good governance, it is of little use if the sovereign appoints a person to a position of authority but does not at the same time inform those over whom such authority is to be exercised of the validity of the appointment.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

According to the United Kingdom [[Ministry of Justice]], there are 92 different types of letters patent.<ref name="what_">{{Cite web | title = Letter from Sarah Whiteside to Steve Elibank regarding Freedom of Information Request | work = whatdotheyknow.com | date = 28 May 2012 | access-date = 2018-08-16 | url = https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/108336/response/284995/attach/html/3/FOI%2076096%20Elibank.doc.html }}</ref> The [[Patent Rolls]] are made up of office copies of English (and later United Kingdom) royal letters patent, which run in an almost unbroken series from 1201 to the present day, with most of those to 1625 having been published.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

==United Kingdom and Commonwealth realms==
{{main|Letters patent (United Kingdom)}}

In the [[United Kingdom]] and other [[Commonwealth realm]]s, letters patent are royal proclamations granting an office, right, title, or status to a person (and sometimes in regard to corporations and cities). Letters patent take the form of an [[open letter]] from the [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|monarch]] to a subject, although this is a [[legal fiction]] and they are in fact a [[royal decree]] made under the [[royal prerogative]] and are treated as [[statute]] law.<ref name="Quentin-Baxter_McLean">{{cite book |authorlink1=Alison Quentin-Baxter|authorlink2=Janet McLean|last1=Quentin-Baxter |first1=Alison |last2=McLean |first2=Janet |title=This Realm of New Zealand: The Sovereign, the Governor-General, the Crown|url=http://www.press.auckland.ac.nz/en/browse-books/all-books/books-2017/this-realm-of-new-zealand--the-sovereign--the-governor-general--.html|date=2017 |publisher=Auckland University Press |isbn=978-1-869-40875-6 |page=100}}</ref> Letters patent do not require the consent of [[parliament]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1988/1162/made | title=The Crown Office (Preparation and Authentication of Documents Rules) Order 1988 | publisher=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] | access-date=27 May 2022}}</ref>

Specific usage in Commonwealth realms outside the United Kingdom include:
* Creation of vice-regal offices, for example in [[Letters Patent, 1947|Canada in 1947]] and [[Letters Patent 1983|New Zealand in 1983]].<ref name="Quentin-Baxter_McLean"/>
* Creation of [[Royal Commission]]s or Special Commissions of Inquiry, such as in [[Australia]].

==United States==
[[File:US General Land Office Deed 1845.jpg|thumb|Letters patent issued by the United States [[United States General Land Office]]]]

The primary source of letters patent in the [[United States]] are [[intellectual property]] [[patent]]s and [[land patent]]s, though letters patent are issued for a variety of other purposes. They function dually as public records and personal certificates.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

In the United States, the [[forgery]] of letters patent granted by the [[President of the United States|President]] is a [[crime]] subject to fine, [[imprisonment]] up to ten years or both ({{UnitedStatesCode|18|497}}). Without letters patent, a person is unable to assume an appointed office. Such an issue prompted the ''[[Marbury v. Madison]]'' suit, where [[William Marbury]] and three others petitioned the [[United States Supreme Court]] to order [[James Madison]] to deliver their letters for appointments made under the previous administration.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

===Form of United States letters patent===
United States letters patent generally do not fit a specific form, except for the [[eschatocol]], or formal ending:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, the undersigned [public official], in accordance with [relevant law], has in the name of the United States, Caused these letters to be made Patent and the Seal of [relevant agency or government official] to be hereunto affixed.

GIVEN under my hand, in [city] the [date] in the year of our Lord [year] and of the Independence of the United States the [years since July 4, 1776].

By [signature of public official issuing letter]
|}{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

==See also==
*[[Commissioning scroll]]
*[[Exequatur]]
*''[[Firman]]''
*[[Letter of marque]]
*[[Lettre de cachet]]
*[[Papal bull]], a type of letters patent issued by a Pope
*[[Royal Charter]]
*[[Statute of Monopolies 1623]], an attempt to rein in the abuse of letters patent in England

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Letters patent}}
{{Wiktionary}}

*[https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/royal-grants-letters-patent-charters-from-1199/ Royal grants in letters patent and charters from 1199], research guide at the National Archives (UK)

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[[Category:Governance of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Heraldry and law]]
[[Category:Legal documents]]
[[Category:Letters (message)|Patent]]