CHARTA DE UNA PARTE - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

CHARTA DE UNA PARTEAuthored

The Law Mind • 885 words

Definition

A charta de una parte (Latin: "deed of one part") is a deed poll — a legal instrument executed by one party only, binding that party to a particular obligation or conveyance without requiring the signature or seal of any other party. The instrument speaks in the first person from the executing party alone and does not contemplate reciprocal execution. It stands in contrast to a deed inter partes, which is made between two or more named parties and reflects mutual obligations on both sides.

The term appears almost exclusively in historical legal writing and in discussions of medieval and early modern conveyancing doctrine. It has no operative modern equivalent beyond the concept of a deed poll.

Common Confusion

CHARTA DE UNA PARTE vs. DEED INTER PARTES: The essential distinction is structural. A charta de una parte (deed poll) is made by one party, expressing that party's act alone — a grant, a release, a power of attorney. A deed inter partes names multiple parties and purports to bind more than one of them. In older practice the physical document reflected this difference: a deed poll was cut straight across the top, while an indenture (the classic deed inter partes) was cut in a jagged or indented line so that the two halves could later be matched. Researchers who encounter references to "deeds poll" or "indentures" in historical property records should understand that charta de una parte is simply the Latin designation for the former category.

Why It Matters in Research

This term appears almost nowhere in modern legal materials. Its value to Law Mind corpus researchers lies entirely in its historical context:

Paleographic and Latin records. Researchers working in pre-eighteenth-century English land records, ecclesiastical archives, or Anglo-Norman legal manuscripts will encounter charta de una parte as a classification term for conveyancing instruments. Knowing the Latin label allows accurate identification of the instrument type without the translator having made an explicit translation.

Doctrine of delivery and effect. Because a deed poll is the act of one party, the common law rules governing its delivery, acceptance, and revocability differ from those governing indentures. Historical cases and treatises that distinguish charta de una parte from charta inter partes are making a consequential doctrinal point about when and how the instrument takes effect. Bouvier's citation to Coke on Littleton (Co. Litt. 229) is the key reference for tracing this distinction through the classical common law period.

Maxim context. The maxims recorded alongside this term in the historical dictionaries — particularly "charta non est nisi vestimentum donationis" (a deed is nothing else than the vestment of a gift) — appear in early property law treatises to explain why delivery, not execution, completes a conveyance. Researchers tracking the doctrinal history of delivery requirements will find these maxims cited in commentary from Coke forward through Blackstone.

The phrase itself is not a cause of action, a doctrine, or a right. It is a classification. Treat it accordingly: as a signpost for instrument type, not as a source of legal rules in its own right.

Historical Dictionary Support

All three source dictionaries are in agreement that charta de una parte means deed poll and that it is distinguished from a deed inter partes. There is no meaningful divergence among them on the core definition.

Bouvier's provides the most substantive entry, situating the term within conveyancing history and citing Coke on Littleton (Co. Litt. 229) as the governing authority. Bouvier's notes that in the deed poll, "only one of the parties does any act which is binding upon him," which captures the functional difference from an indenture precisely.

Black's adds the companion maxim — "charta non est nisi vestimentum donationis" — attributing it to Co. Litt. 36, which connects the term to Coke's broader treatise on the nature of a deed as an instrument of gift or transfer, not an independent source of property rights.

Rapalje & Lawrence records both maxims and adds the second — "charta est legatus mentis" (a deed is the representation of the mind) — which reinforces the classical view that a deed gives effect to the grantor's intention. The citation to 11 Pet. (U.S.) 549 appearing in Rapalje & Lawrence appears in the context of the maxims, not the Latin term itself, and researchers should not treat it as direct authority on charta de una parte.

What the historical dictionaries do not address: none of the three sources explains how the physical form of the document (the straight cut versus the indented cut) related to the legal classification. Researchers who need that dimension should consult treatises on conveyancing history rather than relying solely on dictionary entries.

Jurisdictional Note

The deed poll as an instrument survives in both English and American law, though the Latin terminology does not. In England, deed polls are still used for formal name changes and certain powers of attorney. In American jurisdictions, the term deed poll appears occasionally in historical property chains but modern practice has largely replaced both the Latin and English labels with instruments that are simply described by their function.

CHARTA DE UNA PARTEmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

A deed poll. A deed of one part. Formerly this phrase was used to distin- guish a deed poll-which is an agreement made by one party only; that is, only one of the parties does any act which is binding upon him-from a deed inter partes. Co. Litt. 229. See DEED POLL. CHARTA DE FORESTA (also writ- ten Carta de Foresta). A collection of the laws of the forest, made in the reign of Hen. III., and someitmes said to have been originally a part of Magna Charta. The charta de foresta was called the Great Charter of the woodland population, nobles, barons, freemen, and slaves, loyally granted by Henry III. early in his reign (A. D. 1217). Inderwick, King's Peace 159; Stubb's Charters 847. There is a dif- ference of opinion as to the original charter of the forest similar to that which exists respecting the true and original Magna Charta (q. v.), and for the same reason, viz.:-that both required repeated confirmation by the the kings, despite their supposed inviolability. Thi This justifies the remark of recent historians as to the great charter that "this theo- retical sanctity and this practical insecurity are shared with the Great Charter of Liberties' by the Charter of the Forest which was issued in 1217." 1 Poll. & Maitl. 158. It is asserted with great positive ness by Inderwick that no forest charter was ever granted by King John, but that Henry III. issued the charter of 1217 (which he puts in the third year of the reign, which, however, only commenced Oct. 28, 1216), in pursuance of the promises of his father; and Lord Coke, referring to it as a charter on which the lives and liberties of the woodland population depended, says that it was confirmed at least thirty times between the death of John and that of Henry V.; 4 Co. Inst. 303. Webster, under the title Magna Charta, says that the name is applied to the charter granted in the 9th Hen. III. and confirmed by Edw. I. Prof. Mait-