CHARTA

An old English law. A charter or deed; an instrument written and sealed; the formal evidence of conveyances and contracts. Also any signal or token by which an estate was held. The term came to be applied, by way of eminence, to such documents as proceeded from the sovereign, granting liberties or privileges, and either where the recipient of the grant was the whole nation, as in. the case of Magna Char ta, or a public body, or private individual, in which case it corresponded to the modern word “charter.” In the civil law. Paper, suitable for the inscription of documents or books; hence, any instrument or writing. See Dig. 32, 52, 6; Nov. 44, 2. Charta communis. In old English law. A common or mutual charter or deed; one containing mutual covenants, or involving: mutuality of obligation; one to which both parties might have occasion to refer, to establish their respective rights. Bract, fols. 33b, 34. Charta cyrographata. In old English law. A chirographed charter; a charter executed in two parts, and cut through the middle, (scindi tur per medium,) where the word “cyrograph um,” or “chirographum,” was written in large letters. Bract, fol. 34; Fleta, lib. 3, c. 14, f 3. Charta de foresta. A collection of the laws of the forest, made in the 9th Hen. III. and said to have been originally a part of Magn a Charta. Charta de una parte. A deed poll. Charta partita. (Literally, a deed divided.) A charter party. 3 Kent, Comm. 201. Charta non est nisi vestimentum do nationis. A deed is nothing else than the vestment of a gift. Co. Litt 36.