Editing Royal charter (section)

===Corporations===
Between the 14th and 19th centuries, royal charters were used to create [[chartered company|chartered companies]] – for-profit ventures with shareholders, used for exploration, trade, and colonisation. Early charters to such companies often granted trade monopolies, but this power was restricted to Parliament from the end of the 17th century.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Protecting Prerogative: William III and the East India Trade Debate, 1689–1698 |author=James Bohun |date=1993 |pages=63–86 |journal=Past Imperfect}}</ref> Until the 19th century, royal charters were the only means other than an [[act of parliament]] by which a company could be [[incorporation (business)|incorporated]]; in the UK, the [[Joint Stock Companies Act 1844]] opened up a route to incorporation by registration, since when incorporation by royal charter has been, according to the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]], "a special token of Royal favour or ... a mark of distinction".<ref name=PC/><ref>{{cite journal |jstor=2226093 |title=Company Law: 1844 and To-Day |author=M. S. Rix |journal=The Economic Journal |volume=55 |issue=218/219 |date=September 1945 |pages=242–260 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]]/[[Royal Economic Society]] |doi=10.2307/2226083}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Royal charter |publisher=Turcan Connell |url=https://www.turcanconnell.com/charities/royal-charter/ |access-date=3 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204122213/https://www.turcanconnell.com/charities/royal-charter/ |archive-date=4 February 2019}}</ref>

The use of royal charters to incorporate organisations gave rise to the concept of the "corporation by prescription". This enabled corporations that had existed from [[time immemorial]] to be recognised as incorporated via the [[legal fiction]] of a "lost charter".<ref>{{cite book |pages=21–25 |title=The Law of Municipal Corporations |author=John William Willcock |publisher=J.S. Littell |date=1827 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1tDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA21 |access-date=5 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182353/https://books.google.com/books?id=-1tDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA21#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> Examples of corporations by prescription include [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] universities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Legal status of the University |work=Statutes and Regulations |publisher=University of Oxford |url=http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/statutes/375-092.shtml#_Toc30485125 |access-date=4 February 2019 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104205409/http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/statutes/375-092.shtml#_Toc30485125 |archive-date=4 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The University as a charity |date=21 March 2013 |publisher=University of Cambridge |url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/about-the-university/how-the-university-and-colleges-work/the-university-as-a-charity |access-date=4 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416204702/https://www.cam.ac.uk/about-the-university/how-the-university-and-colleges-work/the-university-as-a-charity |archive-date=16 April 2021}}</ref>