Letters Patent

Letters Patent (Latin: litterae patentes ) ( German: Open Letter ) known in English -speaking countries a document on which a ruler or an appropriately authorized institution, privileges, rights, title, or status to persons, institutions or companies to areas monopolies, inventions and products awards.

From Letters patent, the term patent derives from the name for the protected status of an invention.

History

As early as the 13th century legal rights over a patent Letters were awarded in England. With this document, inventors and importers was presented by new technologies for a specific period of exclusive use and trading rights. In the statutes concerning monopolies from 1623, for example, was determined that the rights for a period of 14 years were considered. The documents were open from 1461 bearing the Great Seal, the royal seal and the public should view the exclusive rights assigned accordingly.

The Letters Patent was also used for the appointment of persons to public office from the 14th century. Thus, the appointment of the first royal prosecutor, the forerunner of the Attorney General, made ​​in 1315, still without a specific title on a Letters Patent. Then in 1327 was the award of the title of King's Attorney ( royal attorney ) by Edward II. Until 1727 the documents were written in Latin and introduced in 1885 is still valid today form the United Kingdom.

Today

The Letters Patent is still, used by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, the British Crown as a document for the award of titles of nobility, on the appointment of governors and the reduction in force of laws, to name only a few.