Dictionary:

charter

  (chär'tər)

1. A document issued by a sovereign, legislature, or other authority, creating a public or private corporation, such as a city, college, or bank, and defining its privileges and purposes.
2. A written grant from the sovereign power of a country conferring certain rights and privileges on a person, a corporation, or the people: A royal charter exempted the Massachusetts colony from direct interference by the Crown.
3. A document outlining the principles, functions, and organization of a corporate body; a constitution: the city charter.
4. An authorization from a central organization to establish a local branch or chapter.
5. Special privilege or immunity.
6. 1. A contract for the commercial leasing of a vessel or space on a vessel.
   2. The hiring or leasing of an aircraft, vessel, or other vehicle, especially for the exclusive, temporary use of a group of travelers.
7. A written instrument given as evidence of agreement, transfer, or contract; a deed.

Of, relating to, or being an arrangement in which transportation is leased by a group of travelers for their exclusive, temporary use.

1. To grant a charter to; establish by charter.
2. To hire or lease by charter: charter an oil tanker.
3. To hire (a bus or airplane, for example) for the exclusive, temporary use of a group of travelers.

[Middle English chartre, from Old French, from Latin chartula, diminutive of charta, paper made from papyrus. See card¹.]

A written document filed with a U.S. state by the founders of a corporation detailing the major components of a company such as its objectives, its structure and its planned operations. If the charter is approved by the state government, the company becomes a legal corporation.

Also referred to as "charter" and "articles of incorporation".

Investopedia Says:
The details of a charter will vary based on specific regulations and the size of the company. However, at the most basic level, the charter will include the corporation's name, its purpose, the number of shares that are authorized to be issued and the names of the parties involved in the formation. This is generally the first document in the life of a corporation.

Related Links:
CEOs, CFOs, presidents and vice presidents: learn how to tell the difference. The Basics Of Corporate Structure
Learn about how the way a company keeps its management in check can affect the bottom line. Governance Pays
We tell you where to find the telltale signs of corporate misdeeds. Putting Management Under The Microscope

verb

To engage the temporary use of (something) for a fee: hire, lease, rent. See get/lose, transactions.

Definition: reserve, commission
Antonyms: cancel

For more information on charter, visit Britannica.com.

A grant from the government of ownership rights in land to a person, a group of people, or an organization such as a corporation.

A basic document of law of a municipal corporation granted by the state, defining its rights, liabilities, and responsibilities of self-government.

A document embodying a grant of authority from the legislature or the authority itself, such as a corporate charter.

The leasing of a mode of transportation, such as a bus, ship, or plane. A charter-party is a contract formed to lease a ship to a merchant in order to facilitate the conveyance of goods.

It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. (Discuss)

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".

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.

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.

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.

Municipal charters

Main article: Municipal charter

A charter is often the founding document of an incorporated town or city.

Charter schools

In education, charter schools are becoming quite common.

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. These buses are mostly for longer periods of time.

Charter flights

Main article: Charter airline

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.

Charter colony

A charter colony is a type of colony that was established by a group of settlers that received a charter.

Charter member

The term charter member refers to a person or group who was among those participating in the creation of any chartered organization.

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.

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.

See also

• Congressional charter
• Earth Charter
• Fueros (Spanish version)
• General incorporation law
• Medieval Bulgarian royal charters
• Papal Bull
• Royal Charter
• United Nations Charter

External links

• "How do I get the charters for newsgroups?" from the news.newusers.questions FAQ

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - dokument, fundats, privilegium, befragtningskontrakt
v. tr. - give privilegium, chartre

idioms:

• charter flight    charterrejse
• charter member    priviligeret medlem

Nederlands (Dutch)
handvest, statuut, patent, stadsrecht, charteren, recht/octrooi verlenen

Français (French)
n. - (gén, Pol) charte, brevet, statut, affrètement, acte constitutif, (Comm) affrètement
v. tr. - affréter, (Jur, Admin) accorder une charte à

idioms:

• charter flight    vol charter
• charter member    membre de la charte

Deutsch (German)
n. - Charta, Gründungsurkunde, Stadtrecht, Privileg, Mieten
v. - chartern, mieten

idioms:

• charter flight    Charterflug
• charter member    Stammitglied

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (νομ.) (ιδρυτικό) καταστατικό, καταστατικός χάρτης, χάρτα, (οικον.) ναύλωση (κν. τσάρτερ)
v. - ιδρύω με καταστατικό (χάρτη), ναυλώνω

idioms:

• charter flight    ναυλωμένη πτήση
• charter member    καταστατικό ή ιδρυτικό μέλος οργανισμού

Italiano (Italian)
noleggiare, istituire, patente, carta, statuto, franchigie

idioms:

• charter flight    volo charter
• charter member    socio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - contrato (m) de afretamento, carta (f) constitucional (Jur.), privilégio (m), alvará (m) (Jur.)
v. - fretar navio, avião etc., alugar veículo, licenciar, diplomar

idioms:

• charter flight    vôo (m) charter
• charter member    membro (m) fundador

Русский (Russian)
сдавать внаем по чартеру, хартия, устав

idioms:

• charter flight    чартерный авиарейс
• charter member    из основателей организации

Español (Spanish)
n. - fuero, carta de privilegio, cédula real, carta, estatutos, fueros de ciudad
v. tr. - fletar, alquilar, conceder carta a

idioms:

• charter flight    vuelo charter o fletado
• charter member    socio fundador

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kungligt brev, charter, certeparti
v. - bevilja, chartra

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
特许状, 宪章, 执照, 特许设立, 发执照给, 租, 包租, 给予...特权

idioms:

• charter flight    包机
• charter member    创始会员, 发起人

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 特許狀, 憲章, 執照
v. tr. - 特許設立, 發執照給, 租, 包租, 給予...特權

idioms:

• charter flight    包機
• charter member    創始會員, 發起人

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 헌장, 특허장, 대차 계약서
v. tr. - 특허를 주다, 설립하다, 비행기나 버스 등을 전세 내다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 特許状, 支部設立許可状, 特権, 貸借契約, 人権確認の宣言, 憲章, 国連憲章, 捺印証書
v. - 特許状を与える, 借り上げる, 用船契約で雇う

idioms:

• charter flight    チャーター便
• charter member    創立委員

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ميثاق, عهد, مرسوم (فعل) استأجر سفينه أو طيارة‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮כתב-זכויות, צ'רטר, אישור, הצהרת-יסוד, חוזה לשכירת כלי-תחבורה למטרה מיוחדת, חכירה‬
v. tr. - ‮שכר, העניק צ'רטר‬

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