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Royal Charter
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A royal charter is a charter (a type of legal instrument) granted by a Sovereign to create institutions or other forms of incorporated bodies (such as a city, company, or university). In the British legal tradition a royal charter is in the form of letters patent. Historically, royal charters were granted as an exercise of the royal prerogative, and were generally used to confer rights that would today be created by or under statute.
In medieval Europe, royal charters were used to create cities (ie, localities with recognised legal rights and privileges).
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A royal charter is a charter (a type of legal instrument) granted by a Sovereign to create institutions or other forms of incorporated bodies (such as a city, company, or university). In the British legal tradition a royal charter is in the form of letters patent. Historically, royal charters were granted as an exercise of the royal prerogative, and were generally used to confer rights that would today be created by or under statute.
In medieval Europe, royal charters were used to create cities (ie, localities with recognised legal rights and privileges). The date that such a charter was granted is considered to be when a city was "founded", regardless of when the locality originally began to be settled.
At one time a royal charter was the only way in which an incorporated body could be formed, but other means (such as the registration process for limited companies) are generally now used instead.
Among the past and present bodies formed by royal charter are the British East India Company, the Hudson's Bay Company, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), the British South Africa Company, and some of the former British colonies on the North American mainland.
Australia
Universities and colleges
Professional organisations
Belgium
The royal decree is the equivalent in Belgium of a Royal Charter. In the period before 1958, 32 higher education institutes had been by royal charter: these were typically engineering or technical institutions rather than universities.
However, several non-technical higher education institutions have been founded, or refounded, under royal decree:
Canada
A Royal Charter is granted by Order-in-Council, either creating an incorporated body, or giving an existent one special status. This is an exercise of the Royal Prerogative, and, in Canada, there are hundreds of organizations under Royal Charters. Such organizations include charities, businesses, colleges, universities, and cities. Today, it is mostly charities and professional institutions who receive Royal Charters.
Application for a charter is a petition to the Queen-in-Council. To receive a Royal Charter, the organization must have corporate members who have at least first degree level in a relevant field, consist of 5,000 members or more, be financially sound, and it must be in the public interest to regulate the institution under a charter. However, meeting these benchmarks does not guarantee the issue of a Royal Charter.
Companies and societies
Companies, corporations, and societies in Canada founded under or augmented by a Royal Charter include:
- The Hudson's Bay Company; founded by a Royal Charter issued in 1670 by King Charles II
- The Royal Commonwealth Society; founded by a Royal Charter issued in 1882 by Queen Victoria
- The Royal Society of Canada; founded by a Royal Charter issued in 1883 by Queen Victoria
- The Royal Kennebecasis Yacht Club; founded by a Royal Charter issued in 1898 by Queen Victoria
- The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada; founded by a Royal Charter issued in 1903 by King Edward VII
- Scouts Canada; founded by a Royal Charter issued in 1912 by King George V
- The Royal Academy of Dance; founded in 1920 as the Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing; reconstituted by a Royal Charter issued in 1936 by King George V
- The Royal Conservatory of Music; founded in 1886 as the Toronto Conservatory of Music; reconstituted by a Royal Charter issued in 1947 by King George VI
- The Royal Winnipeg Ballet; founded by a Royal Charter issued in 1953 by Queen Elizabeth II
- The Royal Life Saving Society of Canada; founded by a Royal Charter issued in 1960 by Queen Elizabeth II
- The Royal Hamilton College of Music; founded in 1897 as the Hamilton Conservatory of Music; reconstituted by a Royal Charter issued in 1965 by Queen Elizabeth II
- The Royal Western Nova Scotia Yacht Club; founded in 1898 as the Digby Yacht Club; reconstituted by a Royal Charter issued in 1969 by Queen Elizabeth II
Territories and communities
Cities under Royal Charter are not subject to municipal Acts of parliament applied generally to other municipalities, and instead are governed by legislation applicable to each city individually. The Royal Charter codifies the laws applied to the particular city, and lays out the powers and responsibilities not given to other municipalities in the province concerned.
Universities and colleges
A number of Canadian universities and colleges were founded under Royal Charter.
Hong Kong
Before 1997, a number of organizations had the Royal name attached to them:
Ireland
A number of Irish institutions still have a "Royal" prefix, even though the country has been a republic since 1949.
South Africa
The University of South Africa received a Royal Charter in 1877.
United Kingdom
Among the 750 or so organisations with Royal Charters are cities; the Bank of England; the BBC; theatres such as the Royal Opera House and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane; Livery Companies; Britain's older universities; professional institutions and charities.
A Royal Charter is the manner in which a British town is raised to the rank of city. Most recently Inverness, Brighton & Hove and Wolverhampton were given their charters to celebrate the millennium, and Preston, Stirling, Newport, Lisburn and Newry to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2002.
Some of the older British universities operate under Royal Charters, which give them the power to grant degrees. The most recent generation of UK universities were granted the power to grant degrees by the Further and Higher Education Act, 1992 instead of by Royal Charter, while some other universities operate under Acts of Parliament.
The BBC operates under a Royal Charter which lasts for a limited period of ten years, after which it is renewed.
Most Royal Charters are now granted to professional institutions and to charities. For example, the six accountancy institutes which make up the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies each have a Royal Charter which allows their members to call themselves Chartered Accountants. A Charter is not necessary for them to operate, but one is often sought as a recognition of "pre-eminence, stability and permanence".
A Royal Charter changes a body from a collection of individuals into a single legal entity. Once incorporated by Royal Charter, amendments to the Charter and by-laws require government approval.
United States
Although several American universities which predate the American Revolution purport to hold royal charters, in a number of cases they were in fact created by a grant from a local authority such as a colonial legislature.
Colleges created by royal charter from King William III and Queen Mary II:
- The College of William & Mary 1693
Colleges created by King George II:
American colleges popularly believed to have been established by Royal Charter, but actually by some other type of grant:
- Harvard College 1639 - By Act of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
- Yale University 1701 - as Collegiate School by Act of the General Assembly of Connecticut
- Princeton University 1746 - as College of New Jersey by the General Assembly of the Province of New Jersey
- Brown University 1764 - as College of Rhode Island by Letters Patent from The Governor and General Assembly of the English Colony of Rhode Island
- Rutgers University 1766 - as Queen's College by Governor William Franklin of New Jersey
- Dartmouth College 1769 - by Letters Patent by King George III via the Governor of the province of New Hampshire. The distinction between the Letters Patent forming Dartmouth versus those documents founding William & Mary or Kings College (Columbia) is that the seal of the Province of New Hampshire appears on the Dartmouth document, while the Great Seal of England appears on the William & Mary document.
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