Letters patent

Letters patent (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 or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title or status to a person or corporation.

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 library of the House of Commons", where it may be freely perused by all members of parliament.

Letters patent are so named from the Latin verb patī, patior, to lie open, exposed, accessible.

[2] Letters patent are a form of open or public proclamation[3] and a vestigial exercise of extra-parliamentary power by a monarch or president.

[citation needed] In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms, letters patent are royal proclamations granting an office, right, title, or status to a person (and sometimes in regard to corporations and cities).

[citation needed] In the United States, the forgery of letters patent granted by the President is a crime subject to fine, imprisonment up to ten years or both (18 U.S.C. § 497).

Letters patent issued by Queen Victoria in 1900 creating the office of Governor-General of Australia as part of the process of Federation
Letters patent transferring a predecessor of the University of Lorraine to Nancy in 1768
Letters patent issued by the United States United States General Land Office