CHARTA COMMUNIS - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

CHARTA COMMUNISAuthored

The Law Mind • 739 words

Definition

Charta communis (Latin: "common charter" or "mutual charter") is a term from old English law referring to a deed or charter containing mutual covenants between two parties — an instrument in which both parties assumed obligations to each other and to which either party might need to refer in order to establish their respective rights. Because the instrument served both parties equally, it was typically executed in duplicate: each party retained one copy, allowing independent proof of the agreement's terms. These duplicate copies were often produced by writing the deed twice on a single sheet of parchment, then cutting the sheet apart — a practice that gave rise to the related term chartae cyrographatae (chirographed charters), from the Greek-derived Latin for a handwritten instrument divided between parties.

Common Confusion

Bouvier defines charta communis simply as "an indenture," which is accurate in practical effect but potentially misleading if taken as a precise equivalence. The indenture — named for the indented or serrated cut made between duplicate copies — is the procedural mechanism by which a charta communis was typically executed and authenticated. The charta communis, however, is the substantive concept: a deed embodying mutual obligation. The indenture is the form; the charta communis is the function. Researchers conflating the two may miss instruments described in historical sources as chirographed charters or bipartite deeds that served the same purpose under different terminology.

Why It Matters in Research

This term appears almost exclusively in medieval and early modern English legal sources and has no living statutory or common law application. Researchers will encounter it primarily in:

— Bracton's De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae (the original source cited by both Black's and Burrill's), where the concept anchors discussion of deed formalities and proof of obligation in thirteenth-century English law.

— Diplomatic and archival contexts, where medieval land conveyances, feoffments, and covenant agreements were routinely executed as bipartite instruments. Understanding charta communis clarifies why so many medieval deeds survive in duplicate or as matched pairs in estate and monastic archives.

— Historical legal writing on the law of deeds and written instruments, where the distinction between a deed poll (executed by one party only) and a mutual or bipartite deed was legally significant for questions of enforceability and proof.

The key research trap is anachronism: modern researchers accustomed to unilateral instruments may not recognize the significance of duplicate execution in medieval conveyancing. When a historical source refers to a deed "in two parts" or to chirographed instruments, charta communis is the conceptual category at work, even if the Latin phrase itself does not appear. Corpus connections run directly to indenture, deed poll, feoffment, and the broader history of written conveyancing in English law.

Historical Dictionary Support

Black's and Burrill's entries are substantively identical, both drawing on Bracton (fols. 33b–34) as their authority, though Burrill's is the more complete of the two: it alone supplies the connection to chartae cyrographatae and explains the practical consequence — that mutual obligation produced duplicate execution, with each party retaining a copy. This is the crucial functional detail, and its absence from Black's entry is a gap researchers should note.

Bouvier's reduction of the term to "an indenture" is a compression that loses the conceptual core. Bouvier treats the procedural form as the definition, whereas Bracton and Burrill make clear that the defining feature is mutual obligation, with duplicate execution as the natural result. For research purposes, Burrill's entry is the most useful of the three.

None of the three sources situates charta communis within the broader typology of medieval English deeds — specifically the contrast with the carta de una parte (deed poll), executed by one party only. That contrast, which Bracton does develop, is essential context for understanding why the charta communis category existed and what legal work it performed. Researchers relying solely on these dictionary entries will need to consult Bracton directly for that framework.

Jurisdictional Note

Charta communis is specific to medieval English law and the Latin diplomatic tradition that English conveyancing inherited from ecclesiastical and continental practice. It has no recognized counterpart in Scots, Irish, or colonial American legal terminology, though the functional concept — the bipartite deed — appears across common law jurisdictions under different names.

CHARTA COMMUNISmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867

L. Lat. 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. fol. 33 b, 34. Hence these deeds were executed in two parts, each party keeping one, and were otherwise termed chartæ cyrographata, chirographed charters. Id. ibid. See Fleta, lib. 3, c. 14, §§ 2, 3. CHARTA CYROGRAPHATA, (or CHYROGRAPHATA.) L. Lat. In old English law. A chirographed charter; a charter executed in two parts, and cut through the middle, (scinditur per medium,) where the word cyrographum, or chirographum was written in large letters. Bract. fol. 34. Fleta, lib. 3, c. 14, § 3. See Chirograph. CHARTA (or CARTA) DE FORESTA. L. Lat. In old English law. The charter of the forest. A charter or ordinance containing the laws of forest, granted in the ninth year of the reign of Henry III. In all editions of the statutes, it immediately follows Magna Charta, which is said to originally included it. 1 Reeves' Hist. Eng. Law, 254, et seq. Crabb's Hist. Eng. Law, 136, c. 11. Barringt. Obs. Stat. 35. Hence it is sometimes called Charta Parva, the little or lesser charter. Hardr. 437. Sir Matthew Hale describes it as entered, Mag. Rot. Stat. membr. 19, (Great Statute Rolls, sheet 19;) and Rot. Cartar. (Charter Rolls), 28 Edw. I. membr. 26. Hale's Hist. Com. Law, ch. 1. An edition of this Charter was published by Sir W. Blackstone, from an original in the archives of the cathedral of Durham, with various readings from two charters of Inspeximus, 28 Edw. I. and two enrollments in the Tower of London. See Magna Charta.