Definition
In Scots law, an open charter is a charter — issued either by the Crown or by a subject — that contains a precept of sasine which has not yet been executed. In other words, the charter has been granted and the precept directing the giving of sasine (formal symbolic possession of land) has been included in the document, but the actual ceremony of investiture has not yet taken place. The charter remains "open" in the sense that it is incomplete: legal title has not fully transferred because the required formal act of delivery of possession remains outstanding.
To appreciate this definition, the term requires brief context. In the historical Scots feudal land system, ownership of heritable property was not conveyed by a deed alone. A charter granted the right, but the right was not perfected until sasine — a ceremonial transfer of possession, typically symbolized by delivery of earth and stone — was performed and recorded. A precept of sasine was the written command, often contained within the charter itself, instructing an agent to give the grantee formal possession. Until that precept was acted upon, the charter was considered open or unexecuted.
---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Open" in ordinary English means not closed, accessible, or incomplete. "Charter" refers to a formal document granting rights, incorporating an organization, or authorizing activity.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A charter is defined as "a written instrument, executed with usual forms, given as evidence of a grant, contract, or whatever is done between man and man." "Open" carried senses including unfinished, unsealed, or not yet acted upon.
The plain-English combination — an "open" charter — might suggest merely an unsigned or accessible document. The legal gap is significant: in Scots law, the term is a precise technical status indicating that the conveyancing process is mid-stream. The charter exists and is valid as a document, but the land transfer it authorizes is legally incomplete pending execution of the sasine ceremony. This is not a deficiency in the charter itself but a defined intermediate stage in a formal multi-step process.
---
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in the context of historical Scots feudal land law and will surface primarily in older materials — pre-1845 Scots conveyancing records, feudal writs, and legal commentary predating the Titles to Land (Scotland) Act 1858 and later reforms that abolished much of the ceremonial sasine requirement.
Researchers working in historical Scottish land records should note the following:
First, the distinction between an open charter and a completed conveyance is functionally significant. An open charter in a historical document does not establish that land actually passed to the grantee. A researcher tracing title cannot treat the charter as evidence of completed transfer without confirming that execution of sasine followed.
Second, the term will not translate cleanly into English land law sources or modern comparative property law materials. English conveyancing developed along separate lines and does not use this terminology. Do not conflate with English charter concepts.
Third, modern usage of "charter" in legal contexts has diverged sharply from this Scots feudal sense. Charter schools, corporate charters, and maritime charter parties are entirely separate legal instruments. The word "charter" in contemporary legal research almost never invokes this historical Scots meaning.
Fourth, Bouvier's treatment is brief and somewhat compressed. Researchers relying solely on Bouvier may not appreciate that the open/closed distinction in Scots charter practice was part of a layered feudal investiture system with its own procedural logic. Supplementing with Scots-specific sources is advisable.
---
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary provides the only entry among the shelf sources, and it is concise: an open charter is a charter containing a precept of sasine that has not been executed. Bouvier correctly locates the term in Scots law and identifies both the Crown and subjects as possible grantors, which reflects the feudal subinfeudation structure of Scottish land tenure.
What Bouvier does not explain — and what a researcher needs to understand — is the functional significance of the open/executed distinction within the broader Scots feudal system. The precept of sasine was the operative command that triggered the ceremonial act completing the transfer. Without execution, the grantee had a documented claim but not a completed title. Bouvier's entry captures the definition accurately but strips away the procedural architecture that gives the term its meaning.
No other shelf source addresses this term. The absence of coverage in English-origin dictionaries reflects the term's confinement to Scots legal practice.
---
Jurisdictional Note
This term is specific to historical Scots law. It has no recognized usage in English, Welsh, or Irish land law, and does not appear in modern Scottish property law, which abolished feudal tenure by the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000. Researchers encountering the term outside Scottish historical materials should treat the usage as either analogical or erroneous.
---
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Charter Parties — Voyage, Time, Bareboat/Demise, and Hybrid Charters (The Law Mind Military, Veterans & Admiralty Law Encyclopedia) — addresses charter as a maritime instrument; context is entirely distinct from the Scots feudal meaning but useful for distinguishing the breadth of the term "charter" across legal domains.
---