A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the recipient admits a limited (or inferior) status within the relationship, and it is within that sense that charters were historically granted, and that sense is retained in modern usage of the term.
The word entered the English language from the Old Frenchcharte (ultimately from the Latin word for "paper"). It has come to be synonymous with the document that lays out the granting of rights or privileges.
Colloquial usages
The term is used for a special case (or as an exception) to an institutional charter. A charter school, for example, is one that has different rules, regulations, and statutes from a state school.
Charter is sometimes used as a synonym for 'tool' or 'lease', as in the 'charter' of a bus or boat by an organization, intended for a similar group destination.
Chartering is an activity within the shipping industry. In some cases a charterer may own cargo and employ a shipbroker to find a ship to deliver the cargo for a certain price, called freight rate. Freight rates may be on a per-ton basis over a certain route (e.g. for iron ore between Brazil and China), in Worldscale points (in case of oil tankers) or alternatively may be expressed in terms of a total sum - normally in U.S. dollars - per day for the agreed duration of the charter.
A charterer may also be a party without a cargo who takes a vessel on charter for a specified period from the owner and then trades the ship to carry cargoes at a profit above the hire rate, or even makes a profit in a rising market by re-letting the ship out to other charterers.
Depending on the type of ship and the type of charter, normally a standard contract form called a charter party is used to record the exact rate, duration and terms agreed between the shipowner and the charterer.
Time Charter Equivalent is a standard shipping industry performance measure used primarily to compare period-to-period changes in a shipping company's performance despite changes in the mix of charter types.
Bitstream Charter is a serif typeface designed by Matthew Carter in 1987 for Bitstream Inc. Charter is based on Pierre-Simon Fournier’s characters, originating from the 18th century. Classified by Bitstream as a transitional-serif typeface (Bitstream Transitional 801), it also has features of a slab-serif typeface and is often classified as such.
Charter was originally optimized for printing on the low-resolution 300 dpi laser printers of the 1980s, and remains suitable for printing on both modern high-resolution laser printers and inexpensive lower resolution inkjet printers due to its strong, legible design. Its structure was optimised for low-memory computers and printers. In a 2013 interview, Carter explained that it used "a very simplified structure and a minimum number of curves, more straight-line segments... very economical compared to, say, Times New Roman." In its simplification of serif forms, it anticipates Carter's later landmark design, Georgia.
In 1992 Bitstream donated a version of Charter, along with its version of Courier, to the X Consortium under terms that allowed the font to be modified and redistributed. This has resulted in open source derivatives of Bitstream Charter, including Charis SIL. Some consider Bitstream Charter to be one of the best free fonts available.
Amy Jeanne, you're in my dream. Your eyes they seem like stars and all this seems like scaffolding to lift up who you are. The hospital, the long ride home, your hands as new as snow.
CharterHallGroup (Charter Hall or the Group) is pleased to announce that its Direct BW Trust (BW Trust or the Trust) has divested one of its NSW properties leased by Bunnings in Taree for $28.15 ...
(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) CAIRO, April 13 (KUNA) -- Kuwait has been voted in as a member of the Arab charter on human rights committee for a four-year term, its permanent delegate to the ... .
[...] ... AttachmentsOriginal document Permalink ... The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in UK published this content on April 14, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
A majority of chartered accountants are optimistic about the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into their work, with most saying they think it will allow them to do more strategic work, according to an international survey.
On April 14, 2025, CMB.TECH NV announced a partnership with Fortescue to charter a new ammonia-powered vessel. The vessel, a 210,000-dwt Newcastlemax with a dual-fuel engine, is part of CMB.TECH’s ongoing series of large dry bulk carriers ... Tags ... .
11689, otherwise known as the RevisedCharter of the City of Baguio, aimed to revise certain administrative and land management provisions of the city’s charter ... The revised Baguio City Charter, which ...