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Letters patent   /lˈɛtərz pˈætənt/   Listen
Letters patent

noun
1.
An official document granting a right or privilege.  Synonym: patent.






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"Letters patent" Quotes from Famous Books



... France, by letters patent, gave the whole country of Louisiana to M. Crosat, with the commerce of the country, with the profits of all the mines, reserving for his own use one fifth of the gold and silver. After expending large sums in digging and exploring for the precious ...
— A New Guide for Emigrants to the West • J. M. Peck

... Ages. Preachers made appeal to the public notoriety of this great fact, to controvert those who had their doubts regarding Purgatory. In the year 1358 Edward III. gave to a Hungarian of noble birth, who had come from Hungary expressly to visit the sacred well, letters patent attesting that he had undergone his Purgatory. Narratives of those travels beyond the tomb became a very fashionable form of literature; and it is important for us to remark the wholly mythological, and as wholly Celtic, characteristics ...
— Literary and Philosophical Essays • Various

... for the amalgamation of the Exchequers of Great Britain and Ireland contained provisions for the continued representation of Ireland in fiscal matters at the Exchequer and in Parliament. Power was given to His Majesty by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Ireland to appoint a Vice-Treasurer of Ireland. The Vice-Treasurer could sit in Parliament, and appointment to the office did not vacate a seat in the House of Commons. This office has been allowed to fall into abeyance. The Exchequer ...
— Against Home Rule (1912) - The Case for the Union • Various

... Patent Laws and full particulars of the mode of applying for Letters Patent, specifying size of model required, and much other information useful to Inventors, may be had gratis by addressing MUNN & CO., Publishers of the Scientific American, ...
— Scientific American, Vol. 17, No. 26 December 28, 1867 • Various

... upon it, and gone without it at last. By this Answer, the King seeing the Man to be no Blockhead, having ask'd him a few Questions, says he, You shall have what you ask'd for, that you may thank me twice, and turning to his Officers; Let, says he, Letters patent be made out for this Man without Delay, that he may not be detain'd here ...
— Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I. • Erasmus

... rarities, as, the china figure of the lady in the glass-case; the Italian engine, for the imprisonment of those who go abroad with it; both of which I hereby order to be taken down, or else he may expect to have his letters patent for making punch superseded, be debarred wearing his muff next winter, or ever coming to London without ...
— All About Coffee • William H. Ukers

... Bobadilla set sail for San Domingo about the middle of July, 1500, with two caravels, in which were twenty-five men, enlisted for a year, to serve as a kind of guard. There were six friars likewise, who had charge of a number of Indians sent back to their country. Besides the letters patent, Bobadilla was authorized, by royal order, to ascertain and discharge all arrears of pay due to persons in the service of the crown; and to oblige the admiral to pay what was due on his part, "so that those people might receive what was ...
— The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Vol. II) • Washington Irving

... wit a fit excuse supplies Why he stays not, to see the recreant shown. He is with other gifts, beside the prize, Rewarded for the victory, not his own, And letters patent, drawn in ample wise, Wherein his lofty honours wide are blown. Let him depart; I promise he shall meet A guerdon ...
— Orlando Furioso • Lodovico Ariosto

... was nothing more than a garden for medicinal plants, formed under that title, in 1626, by GUY DE LA BROSSE, principal physician to Lewis XIII, who sanctioned the establishment by letters patent. The king's physicians were almost always intendants of this garden till the year 1739, when it was placed under the direction of BUFFON. Before his time, the cabinet was trifling. It consisted only of some ...
— Paris As It Was and As It Is • Francis W. Blagdon

... theis presents shall come, we the Governor and Company etc. send greetinge. Wheras our gracious Soveraigne Lord King Charles hath by his Letters patent bearing date the 4th day of December in the 6th yeare of his Raigne,[3] for himselfe, his heires and successors, given and graunted to us and our successors, assignes and deputies for ever All Admirall rights, benefits and jurisdiccions and likewise all priviledges and Comodityes to the said ...
— Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period - Illustrative Documents • Various

... of the speculation which we owe to Nucingen's financial genius. It would be the more inexpedient because the concern is still in existence and shares are quoted on the Bourse. The scheme was so convincing, there was such life in an enterprise sanctioned by royal letters patent, that though the shares issued at a thousand francs fell to three hundred, they rose to seven and will reach par yet, after weathering the stormy years '27, '30, and '32. The financial crisis of 1827 sent them down; after the Revolution of July they fell flat; but there really is something ...
— The Firm of Nucingen • Honore de Balzac

... have the thing and not the symbol, 160 Ever seeks out the greatest and the best, And at the rudder places him, e'en though She had been forced to take him from the rabble— She, this Necessity, it was that placed thee In this high office, it was she that gave thee 165 Thy letters patent of inauguration. For, to the uttermost moment that they can. This race still help themselves at cheapest rate With slavish souls, with puppets! At the approach Of extreme peril, when a hollow image 170 Is found a hollow image and no more, Then falls the power into ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... Black," in 990, only the ruinous donjon keep is to be seen beyond the gardens. The present chateau is of much later date, and was built by Jean Bourre, comptroller of the finances for Normandy under Louis XI, who was granted letters patent of nobility and the captaincy of Langeais about 1465. After listening to thrilling tales of the barbarous cruelty of Fulk the Black, Count of Anjou, who had his first wife burned at the stake and made ...
— In Chteau Land • Anne Hollingsworth Wharton

... James I. of England and VI. of Scotland, granted letters patent under the great seal of Scotland, dated at Kinnard, 24th May, 1617, to Sir James Cunningham of Glengarnock, appointing him, his heirs and assigns, to be governors, rulers, and directors of a Scottish East India Company, and authorizing him "to trade to and from the East ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. VIII. • Robert Kerr

... leagues beyond, under the name of the New kingdom of Toledo. Ferdinando Pizarro went to the city of Cusco, of which he was made governor, and John de Rada went into Chili to Almagro, carrying with him the orders of the emperor. On receiving the letters patent of the emperor, Almagro marched directly for Cusco, which he considered to be included in his government, by which a civil war was kindled between him and Pizarro. On this march he and his people were severely oppressed by famine, and were even ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II • Robert Kerr

... bear witness to the existence of a contemporary altar. At Harringworth in Northamptonshire there had been an aisleless church, to which a tower had been added at the end of the twelfth, and aisles early in the thirteenth century. On 24 October 1305 Edward I granted letters patent to William la Zouche, by which he had licence to assign a certain amount of land to two chantry chaplains in the chapel of All Saints. This may have been his private chapel, but was possibly in the church. A little earlier than this, to judge by the character of the architecture, a ...
— The Ground Plan of the English Parish Church • A. Hamilton Thompson

... was born in the year 1509, was the grandson of Sir Edmund Bedingfeld, the favourite of three successive kings, Edward IV., Richard III., and Henry VII. This same Sir Edmund had served in the Wars of the Roses, and Edward IV., by letters patent of the twenty-second year of his reign, granted to him, "for his faithful service, licence to build towers, walls, and such other fortifications as he pleased in his manors of Oxburgh, together ...
— Studies from Court and Cloister • J.M. Stone

... becoming extremely difficult; nevertheless, he wore the boldest possible face when he received the ambassadors of France, and on December 9 refused to grant the letters patent of passage through the Pontifical States which the French demanded. Thereupon Charles advanced threateningly upon Rome, and was joined now by those turbulent ...
— The Life of Cesare Borgia • Raphael Sabatini

... before the English patent was issued by Governor Dongan; Stephanus Van Cortland was then joined in it with Rombout, and Jacobus Kipp substituted as the representative of the children of Gulian Ver Planck. On the 17th day of October, 1685, letters patent, under the broad seal of the Province of New York, were granted by King James the Second, and the parties to whom these letters patent were granted, became from that time the undisputed proprietors of the soil. There were 76,000 acres of these lands lying in Fishkill, and other ...
— The Hudson - Three Centuries of History, Romance and Invention • Wallace Bruce

... never refused to assist any of them at their tasks, while with the pocket-knife which he carried he constructed toys which were their delight. Some of these were so curious and amusing that, had they been securer by letters patent, they would have brought a competency to ...
— The Huge Hunter - Or, the Steam Man of the Prairies • Edward S. Ellis

... law a brief meant letters patent issued out of chancery to churchwardens or other officers for the collection of money for church purposes. Such briefs were regulated by a statute of 1704, but are now obsolete, though they are still to be found named in one ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 - "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" • Various

... maintained their right to the whole American coast, from the Spanish possessions in Florida, to the French posts in Canada. The English government founded its claim upon the ground of first discovery, occupation and possession. Various companies, in England, had, by charters and letters patent from their sovereigns, been entrusted with these vast territories. It was quite evident that these conflicting claims between England and Holland ...
— Peter Stuyvesant, the Last Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam • John S. C. Abbott

... native occupation (including mission reserves) and preserved for their use by Royal Letters Patent and by the South Africa Act, amount to nearly two and a half million acres, or about 15 per cent. of the whole of Natal. These areas are, according to the native mode of occupation, almost all fully occupied, and do not afford more than a very limited opportunity ...
— Native Life in South Africa, Before and Since • Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje

... June the Queen conferred on Prince Albert, by letters patent, the title of "Prince Consort." The change was desirable, to insure the proper recognition of his rank, as her Majesty's husband, at ...
— Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, (Victoria) Vol II • Sarah Tytler

... of December 1714 saw the reopening of the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, under letters patent originally granted by Charles II. to Christopher Rich, and restored by his broken-English Majesty George I. The renewal created a dangerous rival to Drury Lane, but it is not probable that the king worried ...
— The Palmy Days of Nance Oldfield • Edward Robins

... inquiries concerning the manufacture of this article, we give herewith the process of William Henry Balmain, the original discoverer of luminous paint, and also other processes. These particulars are derived from the letters patent granted in this country to the ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 497, July 11, 1885 • Various

... at the public charge, obtain reparation. Lastly it was provided that, in order to give greater security and solemnity to this most exorbitant grant, the whole substance of the Act should be set forth in Letters Patent to which the Chancellor was directed to put ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 5 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... Anagalla by name, the credit of first having made a ball for the purpose of pastime. Several passages in Homer rather sustain this latter view, and, therefore, with the weight of evidence, and to the glory of woman, we, too, shall adopt this theory. Anagalla did not apply for letters patent, but, whether from goodness of heart or inability to keep a secret, she lost no time in making known her invention and explaining its uses. Homer, then, ...
— Base-Ball - How to Become a Player • John M. Ward

... from that city to Baltimore. The House Committee on Commerce gave a favorable report, but the session closed without action, and Morse went to Europe in the hope of interesting foreign governments in his invention. The result was a refusal to grant him letters patent in England, and the obtaining of a useless brevet d'invention in France, and no exclusive privileges in any other country. He returned home to struggle again with scanty means for four years, during which ...
— Hidden Treasures - Why Some Succeed While Others Fail • Harry A. Lewis

... king when he was distressed by his rebellious subjects. For such services, and by reason of her long attendance on the princess, she was, on the restoration of Charles II. (in regard that Lord Stanhope, her husband, did not live to enjoy his father's honours), by letters patent bearing date May 29, 12 Charles II., advanced to the dignity of Countess of Chesterfield for life, as also that her daughters should ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 203, September 17, 1853 • Various

... meetings were for some time kept secret. When Richelieu came to hear of the existence of the society, desirous to make literature subservient to his political glory, he proposed to these gentlemen to form themselves into a corporation, established by letters patent, at the same time hinting that he had the power to put a stop to their secret meetings. The argument was irresistible, and the little society consented to receive from his highness the title of the French Academy, ...
— Handbook of Universal Literature - From The Best and Latest Authorities • Anne C. Lynch Botta

... confines of the city,(262) where he was met by the mayor and a "countless multitude" of the citizens. The advice he had to give the citizens was that if they wished to be reconciled to the king, they would have to submit their lives and property unreservedly to his will. Letters patent were drawn up to that effect under the common seal, and taken by Sir Roger himself to Windsor. The citizens had not long to wait for an answer. The king's first demand was the removal of the posts and chains which had been set up in the streets ...
— London and the Kingdom - Volume I • Reginald R. Sharpe

... of the Grana Angelica, a pill the formula for which he said he had learned in Venice. Before he died, Anderson imparted the secret to his daughter Katherine, and in 1686 she in turn conveyed the secret to an Edinburgh physician named Thomas Weir. The next year Weir persuaded James II to grant him letters patent for the pills. Whether he did this to protect himself against competition that already had begun, or whether the patenting gave a cue to those always ready to cut themselves in on a good thing, cannot be said for sure. The last years of the 17th ...
— Old English Patent Medicines in America • George B. Griffenhagen

... in through the windows with mortgages, Acts of Parliament, legal decisions, declarations of war, charters to universities, patents for medicines, naturalization orders, shares in gold mines, specifications, prospectuses, water companies' reports, publishers' agreements, letters patent, freedoms of cities, and, in a word, all that the Devil controls in the way of hole-stopping rubbish; and the Devil, kneeling on the floor, stuffed them into the hole like a madman. But as fast as he stuffed, the little ...
— The Path to Rome • Hilaire Belloc

... the birth of Kay's invention, also saw that of Lewis Paul, an artisan of Birmingham. This was a new method of spinning by means of Rollers. It should be remembered that this was thirty years before Arkwright attempted to obtain letters patent for his system of ...
— The Story of the Cotton Plant • Frederick Wilkinson

... expedition of Cabot, no attempt on the part of England, to acquire territory in America, seems to have been made until the year 1558. In this year letters patent were issued by Queen Elizabeth, empowering Sir Humphrey Gilbert to "discover and take possession of such remote, heathen, and barbarous lands, as were not actually possessed by any christian prince or people." ...
— Chronicles of Border Warfare • Alexander Scott Withers

... " The words, ' We will not destroy him nor will we go upon him, nor will we send upon him,' have been very differently expounded by different legal authorities. Their real meaning may be learned from John himself, who the next year promised by his letters patent,... nec super eos per vim vel per arma ibimus, nisi per legem regni nostri, vel per judicium parium suorum in curia nostra, (nor will we go upon them by force or by arms, unless by the law of our kingdom, or the judgment ...
— An Essay on the Trial By Jury • Lysander Spooner

... history of the Observatory was the issue of Letters Patent (32 Geo. III., A.D. 1792), in which it is recited that "We grant and ordain that there shall be forever hereafter a Professor of Astronomy, on the foundation of Dr. Andrews, to be called and known by the name of the Royal Astronomer of Ireland." ...
— Great Astronomers • R. S. Ball

... French opera-singers were a courtly race. The French opera had been established a century before as a Royal Academy of Music by Louis XIV., who had issued letters patent which declared the profession of an opera-singer one that might be followed even by a nobleman; and it seemed, therefore, quite consistent with the rank thus conferred on them that they should take the lead in paying loyal compliments to their ...
— The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France • Charles Duke Yonge

... manner of necessary costs and charges by them expanded, to pay to the king in wares or money the fifth part of the free gain so made, in lieu of all customs of other dues; of importation on the same. By these letters patent; dated at Westminster on the 5th of March in the eleventh year of Henry VII. all the other subjects of England are prohibited from visiting or frequenting any of the continents, islands, villages, towns, castles, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VI - Early English Voyages Of Discovery To America • Robert Kerr

... Marseilles guard, formed of young men, is allowed to march to Aubagne, "to insist that M. le lieutenant criminel and M. l'avocat du Roi release the prisoners." The disobedience of Marseilles, which refuses to receive the magistrates sent under letters patent to take testimony, is tolerated. And better still, in spite of the remonstrances of the parliament of Aix, a general amnesty is proclaimed; "no one is excepted but a few of the leaders, to whom is allowed the liberty of leaving the kingdom." The mildness of the King and of the military ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 1 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine



Words linked to "Letters patent" :   legal instrument, official document, law, legal document, jurisprudence, instrument



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