Editing Royal charter (section)

===Universities and colleges===
{{See also|University charter}}
According to the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', of the 81 universities established in pre-Reformation Europe, 13 were established ''ex consuetudine'' without any form of charter, 33 by [[Papal bull]] alone, 20 by both Papal bull and [[Holy Roman Emperor|imperial]] or royal charter, and 15 by imperial or royal charter alone. Universities established solely by royal (as distinct from imperial) charter did not have the same international recognition – their degrees were only valid within that kingdom.<ref>{{cite book |work=Catholic Encyclopedia |at=The founders: popes and civil rulers |title=Universities |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |author=Edward Pace |date=1912 |via=new adventure.org |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15188a.htm |access-date=7 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608103342/https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15188a.htm |archive-date=8 June 2020}}</ref>

The first university to be founded by charter was the [[University of Naples]] in 1224, founded by an imperial charter of [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]]. The first university founded by royal charter was the [[University of Coimbra]] in 1290, by [[King Denis of Portugal]], which received papal confirmation the same year. Other early universities founded by royal charter include the [[University of Perpignan]] (1349; papal confirmation 1379) and the University of [[Huesca]] (1354; no confirmation), both by [[Peter IV of Aragon]]; the [[Jagiellonian University]] (1364; papal confirmation the same year) by [[Casimir III of Poland]]; the [[University of Vienna]] (1365; Papal confirmation the same year) by [[Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria]]; the [[University of Caen]] (1432; Papal confirmation 1437) by [[Henry VI of England]]; the [[University of Girona]] (1446; no confirmation) and the [[University of Barcelona]] (1450; papal confirmation the same year), both by [[Alfonso V of Aragon]]; the [[University of Valence]] (1452; papal confirmation 1459) by the [[Dauphin of France|Dauphin]] Louis (later [[Louis XI of France]]); and the [[University of the Balearic Islands|University of Palma]] (1483; no confirmation) by [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]].<ref name=Kivinen>{{cite journal |title=Privileges of Universitas Magistrorum Et Scolarium and Their Justification in Charters of Foundation from the 13th to the 21st Centuries |jstor=29735011 |author1=Osmo Kivinen |author2=Petri Poikus |journal=Higher Education |volume=52 |issue=2 |date=September 2006 |pages=185–213 |doi=10.1007/s10734-004-2534-1 |s2cid=143710561}}</ref>

====British Isles====

Both Oxford and Cambridge received royal charters during the 13th century. However, these charters were not concerned with academic matters or their status as universities but rather about the exclusive right of the universities to teach, the powers of the [[chancellor (university)|chancellors']] courts to rule on disputes involving students, and fixing rents and interest rates.<ref>{{cite book |page=463 |title=The Struggle for Mastery: Britain, 1066–1284 |author=David A. Carpenter |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2003 |isbn=9780195220001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FLbdk_L9TYQC&pg=PA463 |access-date=14 July 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182248/https://books.google.com/books?id=FLbdk_L9TYQC&pg=PA463#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |page=274 |chapter=The Endowments of the University and Colleges to circa 1348 |author1=Trevor Henry Aston |author2=Rosamond Faith |title=The History of the University of Oxford: The early Oxford schools |editor=Trevor Henry Aston |publisher=Clarendon Press |date=1984 |isbn=9780199510115 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AkJO3TAxMtwC&pg=PA274 |access-date=14 July 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182210/https://books.google.com/books?id=AkJO3TAxMtwC&pg=PA274#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

The University of Cambridge was confirmed by a papal bull in 1317 or 1318,<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/collectionstatu00cambgoog/page/n71 |page=45 |chapter=Papal Bull to the University of Cambridge |title=Collection of Statutes for the University and the Colleges of Cambridge |date=1840 |author=James Heywood |publisher=William Clowes and Sins}}</ref> but despite repeated attempts, the University of Oxford never received such confirmation.<ref name=Kivinen/> The three [[ancient universities of Scotland|pre-Reformation Scottish universities]] were all established by papal bulls: [[University of St Andrews|St Andrews]] in 1413; [[University of Glasgow|Glasgow]] in 1451; and [[King's College, Aberdeen]] (which later became the [[University of Aberdeen]]) in 1494.<ref>{{cite book |title=Nineteenth-century Scottish Rhetoric: The American Connection |publisher=[[Southern Illinois University Press]] |date=1993 |author=Winifred Bryan Horne |page=19 |isbn=9780809314706 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mSffiLqVtuUC&pg=PA19 |access-date=25 February 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182212/https://books.google.com/books?id=mSffiLqVtuUC&pg=PA19#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

Following the Reformation, establishment of universities and colleges by royal charter became the norm. The [[University of Edinburgh]] was founded under the authority of a royal charter granted to the [[The City of Edinburgh Council|Edinburgh town council]] in 1582 by [[James VI and I|James VI]] as the "town's college". [[Trinity College Dublin]] was established by a royal charter of [[Elizabeth I]] (as [[Queen of Ireland]]) in 1593. Both of these charters were given in [[Latin]].<ref>{{cite book |pages=109–111 |title=Charters of Foundation and Early Documents of the Universities of the Coimbra Group |editor1=Jos. M. M. Hermans |editor2=Marc Nelissen |publisher=Leuven University Press |date=2005 |isbn=9789058674746 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QE-P0ffkTUoC&pg=PA109 |access-date=7 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182213/https://books.google.com/books?id=QE-P0ffkTUoC&pg=PA109#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

The Edinburgh charter gave permission for the town council "to build and to repair sufficient houses and places for the reception, habitation and teaching of professors of the schools of grammar, the humanities and languages, philosophy, theology, medicine and law, or whichever liberal arts which we declare detract in no way from the aforesaid mortification" and granted them the right to appoint and remove professors.<ref>{{cite web |title=Charter by King James VI, 14 April 1582 |publisher=University of Edinburgh |url=http://ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk/index.php/Charter_by_King_James_VI,_14_April_1582 |access-date=8 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128055056/http://ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk/index.php/Charter_by_King_James_VI,_14_April_1582 |archive-date=28 November 2021}}</ref> But, as concluded by Edinburgh's principal, [[Sir Alexander Grant, 10th Baronet|Sir Alexander Grant]], in his tercentenary history of the university, "Obviously this is no charter founding a university".<ref>{{cite book |page=123 |author=Sir Alexander Grant |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Company |title=The Story of the University of Edinburgh During Its First Three Hundred Years |date=1884 |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJAKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA123 |access-date=9 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182215/https://books.google.com/books?id=xJAKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA123#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> Instead, he proposed, citing multiple pieces of evidence, that the surviving charter was original granted alongside a second charter founding the college, which was subsequently lost (possibly deliberately).<ref>{{cite book |pages=107–132 |author=Sir Alexander Grant |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Company |title=The Story of the University of Edinburgh During Its First Three Hundred Years |date=1884 |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJAKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA107 |access-date=9 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182847/https://books.google.com/books?id=xJAKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA107#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> This would also explain the source of Edinburgh's degree awarding powers, which were used from the foundation of the college.<ref>{{cite book |page=143 |author=Sir Alexander Grant |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Company |title=The Story of the University of Edinburgh During Its First Three Hundred Years |date=1884 |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJAKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA143 |access-date=9 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182728/https://books.google.com/books?id=xJAKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA143#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

The royal charter of Trinity College Dublin, while being straightforward in incorporating the college, also named it as "mother of a University", and rather than granting the college degree-awarding powers stated that "the students on this College ... shall have liberty and power to obtain degrees of Bachelor, Master, and Doctor, at a suitable time, in all arts and faculties".<ref>{{cite web |title=Charter of Queen Elizabeth I |publisher=Trinity College Dublin |format=English; translated from Latin |url=https://www.tcd.ie/Secretary/assets/pdf/Charter%2520Elizabeth%2520I.pdf |access-date=10 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416065350/http://www.tcd.ie/Secretary/assets/pdf/Charter%20Elizabeth%20I.pdf |archive-date=2016-04-16}}</ref> Thus the [[University of Dublin]] was also brought into existence by this charter, as the body that awards the degrees earned by students at Trinity College.<ref name="TCD Legal FAQ">{{cite web |title=Legal FAQ |publisher=Trinity College Dublin |url=https://www.tcd.ie/Secretary/corporate/legal-faq/ |access-date=10 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528215940/https://www.tcd.ie/Secretary/corporate/legal-faq/ |archive-date=28 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter=Note by the Lord Chief Baron on the relation between the College and the University |author=[[Christopher Palles]] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPwLAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA62 |title=Royal Commission on Trinity College, Dublin, and the University of Dublin: Final Report of the Commissioners |date=1907 |access-date=16 March 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182730/https://books.google.com/books?id=SPwLAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

Following this, no surviving universities were created in the British Isles until the 19th century. The 1820s saw two colleges receive royal charters: [[St David's College, Lampeter]] in 1828 and [[King's College London]] in 1829. Neither of these were granted degree-awarding powers or university status in their original charters. The 1830s saw an attempt by [[University College London]] to gain a charter as a university and the creation by Act of Parliament of [[Durham University]], but without incorporating it or granting any specific powers. These led to debate about the powers of royal charters and what was implicit to a university.

The essence of the debate was firstly whether the power to award degrees was incidental to the creation of a university or needed to be explicitly granted and secondly whether a royal charter could, if the power to award degrees was incidental, limit that power – UCL wishing to be granted a royal charter as "London University" but excluding the power to award degrees in theology due to the secular nature of the institute. Sir [[Charles Wetherell]], arguing against the grant of a royal charter to UCL before the Privy Council in 1835, argued for degree-awarding powers being an essential part of a university that could not be limited by charter.<ref>{{cite book |author=Charles Wetherell |title=Substance of the Speech of Sir Charles Wetherell: Before the Lords of the Privy Council, on the Subject of Incorporating the London University |publisher=J. G. & F. Rivington |year=1834 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/substancespeech01wethgoog/page/n87 77]–82 |url=https://archive.org/details/substancespeech01wethgoog |quote=It will be necessary to examine this subject a little more minutely, and particularly with reference to the power of conferring degrees, and the nature of a university. The only place where I can find any legal discussion on matters so little brought under consideration as these, is the argument of Mr. Attorney General Yorke, in Dr. Bentley's case, which is reported in 2nd Lord Raymond, 1345 ... In this proposition of Mr. Yorke two principles are laid down. The first is that 'granting degrees flows from the Crown;' and the second is, that if 'a University be erected, the power of granting degrees is incidental to the grant.' ... The subject matter granted, is the power of covering degrees; an emanation, as Mr. Yorke expresses it, from the Crown. It is the concession of this power that constitutes the direct purpose and the essential character of a University. ... This question of law arises:– How can this anomalous and strange body be constituted in the manner professed? It is to be a 'University,' but degrees in theology it is not to give. But Mr. Attorney-General Yorke tells us, that the power of giving degrees is incidental to the grant. If this be law, is not the power of conferring theological degrees equally incident to the grant, as other degrees; and if this be so, how can you constitute a University without the power of giving 'all' degrees: The general rule of law undoubtedly is, that where a subject matter is granted which has legal incidents belonging to it, the incidents must follow the subject granted; and this is the general rule as to corporations; and it has been decided upon that principle, that as a corporation, as an incident to its corporate character, has a right to dispose of its property, a proviso against alienation is void.}}</ref> [[Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet|Sir William Hamilton]], wrote a response to Wetherell in the [[Edinburgh Review]], drawing in Durham University and arguing that the power of universities, including the power to award specific degrees, had always been explicitly granted historically, thus creating a university did not implicitly grant degree-awarding powers.<ref>{{cite book |title=Discussions on philosophy and literature, education and university reform |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green and Longman's |year=1853 |author=Sir William Hamilton |pages=492, 497 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4i1CAQAAIAAJ/page/n505 |quote=[p. 492] But when it has been seriously argued before the Privy Council by Sir Charles Wetherell, on behalf of the English Universities ... that the simple fact of the crown incorporating an academy under the name of university, necessarily, and in spite of reservations, concedes to that academy the right of granting all possibly degrees; nay when (as we are informed) the case itself has actually occurred, – the 'Durham University,' inadvertently, it seems, incorporated under that title, being in the course of claiming the exercise of this very privilege as a right, necessarily involved in the public recognition of the name: – in these circumstances we shall be pardoned a short excursus, in order to expose the futility of the basis on which this mighty edifice is erected. [p. 497] ... in all the Universities throughout Europe, which were not merely privileged, but created by bull and charter, every liberty conferred was conferred not as an ''incident'' through implication, but by express conversion. And this in two ways:– For a university was empowered, either by an explicit grant of certain enumerated rights, or by bestowing on it implicitly the known privileges enjoyed by other pattern Universities}}</ref> Other historians, however, disagree with Hamilton on the point of whether implicit grants of privileges were made, particularly with regard to the ''ius ubique docendi'' – the important privilege of granting universally-recognised degrees that was the defining mark of the ''[[studium generale]]''. [[Hastings Rashdall]] states that "the special privilege of the ''jus ubique docendi'' ... was usually, but not quite invariably, conferred in express terms by the original foundation-bulls; and was apparently understood to be involved in the mere act of erection even in the rare cases where it is not expressly conceded".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages: Volume 1, Salerno, Bologna, Paris |author=Hastings Rashdall |date=1895 |pages=11–12 |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |author-link=Hastings Rashdall |url=https://archive.org/stream/universitieseur00unkngoog#page/n44/mode/1up}}</ref> Similarly, Patrick Zutshi, Keeper of Manuscripts and University Archives in Cambridge University Library, writes that "Cambridge never received from the papacy an explicit grant of the ''ius ubique docendi'', but it is generally considered that the right is implied in the terms of John XXII's letter of 1318 concerning Cambridge's status as a studium generale."<ref>{{cite book |chapter=When Did Cambridge Become a Studium generale? |title=Law as profession and practice in medieval Europe : essays in honor of James A. Brundage |editor1-first=Kenneth |editor1-last=Pennington |editor2-first=Melodie Harris |editor2-last=Eichbauer |last=Zutshi |first=Patrick |location=Farnham, Surrey, England |publisher=Ashgate |isbn=9781409425748 |pages=153–171 |doi= |year=2011}}</ref>

UCL was incorporated by royal charter in 1836, but without university status or degree-awarding powers, which went instead to the [[University of London]], created by royal charter with the explicit power to grant degrees in Arts, Law, and Medicine. Durham University was incorporated by royal charter in 1837 (explicitly not founding the university, which it describes as having been "established under our Royal sanction, and the authority of our Parliament") but although this confirmed that it had "all the property, rights, and privileges which ... are incident to a University established by our Royal Charter" it contained no explicit grant of degree-awarding powers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Royal Charter |publisher=Durham University |url=https://www.dur.ac.uk/about/governance/charter/ |access-date=10 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923004625/https://www.dur.ac.uk/about/governance/charter/ |archive-date=23 September 2015}}</ref> This was considered sufficient for it to award "degrees in all the faculties",<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hmpBAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA471 |page=471 |title=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |chapter=Universities |publisher=Black |date=1860 |volume=21 |access-date=11 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182733/https://books.google.com/books?id=hmpBAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA471#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> but all future university royal charters explicitly stated that they were creating a university and explicitly granted degree-awarding power. Both London (1878) and Durham (1895) later received supplemental charters allowing the granting of degrees to women, which was considered to require explicit authorisation. After going through four charters and a number of supplemental charters, London was reconstituted by Act of Parliament in 1898.<ref>{{cite web |pages=7–24 |title=History of the University |publisher=University of London |date=1912 |work=The Historical Record (1836–1912) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h0VAAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA7 |access-date=18 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182814/https://books.google.com/books?id=h0VAAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA7#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

The Queen's Colleges in Ireland, at [[Queen's University Belfast|Belfast]], [[University College Cork|Cork]], and [[NUI Galway|Galway]], were established by royal charter in 1845, as colleges without degree awarding powers. The [[Queens University of Ireland]] received its royal charter in 1850, stating "We do will, order, constitute, ordain and found an University&nbsp;... and the same shall possess and exercise the full powers of granting all such Degrees as are granted by other Universities or Colleges in the faculties of Arts, Medicine and Law".<ref>{{cite book |page=16 |title=The Queen's University Calendar |date=1859 |publisher=Queens University (Ireland) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UeMNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA16 |access-date=19 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182742/https://books.google.com/books?id=UeMNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA16#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> This served as the degree awarding body for the Queen's Colleges until it was replaced by the [[Royal University of Ireland]].

The royal charter of the [[Victoria University (United Kingdom)|Victoria University]] in 1880 started explicitly that "There shall be and is hereby constituted and founded a University" and granted an explicit power of awarding degrees (except in medicine, added by supplemental charter in 1883).<ref>{{cite book |pages=6–7 |title=The Victoria University Calendar |date=1882 |last1=Univ |first1=Manchester |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_t8NAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA6 |access-date=19 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822182905/https://books.google.com/books?id=_t8NAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA6#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

From then until 1992, all universities in the United Kingdom were created by royal charter except for [[Newcastle University]], which was separated from Durham via an Act of Parliament. Following the independence of the [[Republic of Ireland]], new universities there have been created by Acts of the [[Oireachtas]] (Irish Parliament). Since 1992, most new universities in the UK have been created by [[Order of Council|Orders of Council]] as secondary legislation under the [[Further and Higher Education Act 1992]], although granting degree-awarding powers and university status to colleges incorporated by royal charter is done via an amendment to their charter.

====United States====
Several of the [[colonial colleges]] that predate the [[American Revolution]] are described as having been established by royal charter. Except for [[The College of William & Mary]], which received its charter from [[King William III]] and [[Queen Mary II]] in 1693 following a mission to London by college representatives, these were either provincial charters granted by local governors (acting in the name of the king) or charters granted by legislative acts from local assemblies.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ld3GnPT920QC&pg=PA192 |title=History of Universities: Volume XVII 2001–2002 |page=192 |editor=Mordechai Feingold |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002 |chapter=Review Essay |isbn=9780199256365 |access-date=6 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822183345/https://books.google.com/books?id=ld3GnPT920QC&pg=PA192#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

The first charters to be issued by a colonial governor on the consent of their council (rather than by an act of legislation) were those granted to [[Princeton University]] (as the College of New Jersey) in 1746 (from acting governor [[John Hamilton (New Jersey politician)|John Hamilton]]) and 1748 (from Governor [[Jonathan Belcher]]). There was concern as to whether a royal charter given by a governor in the King's name was valid without royal approval. An attempt to resolve this in London in 1754 ended inconclusively when [[Henry Pelham]], the prime minister, died. However, Princeton's charter was never challenged in court prior to its ratification by the state legislature in 1780, following the US Declaration of Independence.<ref>{{cite book |pages=76–79 |title=History of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton |author=[[John Maclean Jr.|John MacLean]] |date=1877 |publisher=Lippincott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5rIcCdMpKkC&pg=PA76 |access-date=25 February 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822183249/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5rIcCdMpKkC&pg=PA76#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

[[Columbia University]] received its royal charter (as King's College) in 1754 from Lieutenant Governor [[James DeLancey]] of New York, who bypassed the assembly rather than risking it rejecting the charter.<ref>{{cite book |title=Stand, Columbia: A History of Columbia University |author=Robert McCaughey |publisher=Columbia University Press |date=2003 |page=21 |isbn=9780231503556 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bdBXMiac6l0C&pg=PA21 |access-date=6 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822183356/https://books.google.com/books?id=bdBXMiac6l0C&pg=PA21#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> [[Rutgers University]] received its (as Queen's College) in 1766 (and a second charter in 1770) from Governor [[William Franklin]] of New Jersey,<ref>{{cite web |title=A Historical Sketch of Rutgers University: Section 1 |author=Thomas J. Frusciano |at=The Founding of Queen's College |date=2006 |website=Rutgers University Libraries |url=https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/scua/rutgers-historical-sketch-part-1#Founding |access-date=6 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213213212/https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/scua/rutgers-historical-sketch-part-1#Founding |archive-date=13 December 2019}}</ref> and [[Dartmouth College]] received its in 1769 from Governor [[Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet|John Wentworth]] of New Hampshire.<ref>{{cite web |title=College Charter Granted |publisher=Dartmouth College |url=https://250.dartmouth.edu/highlights/college-charter-granted |access-date=6 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830204856/https://250.dartmouth.edu/highlights/college-charter-granted |archive-date=30 August 2019}}</ref> The case of ''[[Dartmouth College v. Woodward]]'', heard before the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in 1818, centred on the status of the college's royal charter.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dartmouth College Case Decided By the U.S. Supreme Court |date=13 October 2018 |publisher=Dartmouth College |url=https://250.dartmouth.edu/highlights/dartmouth-college-case-decided-us-supreme-court |access-date=6 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822183258/https://home.dartmouth.edu/about/dartmouth-milestones |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> The court found in 1819 that the charter was a contract under the [[Contract Clause]] of the US Constitution, meaning that it could not be impaired by state legislation, and that it had not been dissolved by the revolution.<ref>{{cite web |title=Trustees of Dartmouth Coll. v. Woodward, 17 U.S. 518 (1819) |publisher=[[Justia]] |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/17/518/ |access-date=6 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118134048/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/17/518/ |archive-date=18 January 2021}}</ref>

The charter for the College of William and Mary specified it to be a "place of universal study, or perpetual college, for divinity, philosophy, languages and other good arts and sciences", but made no mention of the right to award degrees.<ref>{{cite book |pages=361–378 |title=Educational Legislation and Administration of the Colonial Governments |author=Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons |publisher=Macmillan |date=1899 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZadAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA361 |access-date=17 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822183804/https://books.google.com/books?id=mZadAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA361#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> However, the Latin text of the charter uses ''[[studium generale]]'' – the technical term used in the Middle Ages for a university –where the English text has "place of universal study"; it has been argued that this granted William and Mary the rights and status of a university.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=William and Mary Law Review Online |title=A University in 1693: New Light on William & Mary's Claim to the Title 'Oldest University in the United States' |last1=McSweeney |first1=Thomas J. |last2=Ello |first2=Katharine |last3=O'Brien |first3=Elsbeth |year=2020 |volume=61 |page=4 |url=https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlronline/vol61/iss1/4/ |access-date=14 July 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822183808/https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlronline/vol61/iss1/4/ |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

The Princeton charter, however, specified that the college could "give and grant any such degree and degrees&nbsp;... as are usually granted in either of our universities or any other college in our realm of Great Britain".<ref>{{cite book |page=330 |title=Educational Legislation and Administration of the Colonial Governments |author=Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons |publisher=Macmillan |date=1899 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZadAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA330 |access-date=17 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822183809/https://books.google.com/books?id=mZadAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA330#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> Columbia's charter used very similar language a few years later,<ref>{{cite book |page=269 |title=Educational Legislation and Administration of the Colonial Governments |author=Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons |publisher=Macmillan |date=1899 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZadAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA269 |access-date=18 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822183811/https://books.google.com/books?id=mZadAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA269#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> as did Dartmouth's charter.<ref>{{cite book |page=182 |title=Educational Legislation and Administration of the Colonial Governments |author=Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons |publisher=Macmillan |date=1899 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZadAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA182 |access-date=18 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822183925/https://books.google.com/books?id=mZadAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA182#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> The charter of Rutger uses quite different words, specifying that it may "confer all such honorary degrees as usually are granted and conferred in any of our colleges in any of our colonies in America".<ref>{{cite book |page=342 |title=Educational Legislation and Administration of the Colonial Governments |author=Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons |publisher=Macmillan |date=1899 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZadAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA342 |access-date=18 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822183950/https://books.google.com/books?id=mZadAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA342#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

Of the other colleges founded prior to the American Revolution, [[Harvard College]] was established in 1636 by Act of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and incorporated in 1650 by a charter from the same body,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Harvard Charter of 1650 |publisher=Harvard University |url=https://emeritus.library.harvard.edu/university-archives/using-the-collections/online-resources/charter-of-1650 |access-date=6 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209124307/https://emeritus.library.harvard.edu/university-archives/using-the-collections/online-resources/charter-of-1650 |archive-date=9 February 2019}}</ref> [[Yale University]] was established in 1701 by Act of the General Assembly of Connecticut,<ref>{{cite web |title=Governance Documents |date=5 August 2015 |publisher=Yale University |url=https://www.yale.edu/board-trustees/governance-documents |access-date=6 February 2019}}</ref> the [[University of Pennsylvania]] received a charter from the proprietors of the colony in 1753,<ref>{{cite book |page=300 |title=Educational Legislation and Administration of the Colonial Governments |author=Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons |publisher=Macmillan |date=1899 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZadAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA300 |access-date=12 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822184330/https://books.google.com/books?id=mZadAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA300#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> [[Brown University]] was established in 1764 (as the College of Rhode Island) by an Act of the Governor and General Assembly of Rhode Island,<ref>{{cite web |title=March 1764: College Charter Granted |work=Brown University Timemline |url=https://www.brown.edu/about/history/timeline/college-charter-granted}}</ref> and [[Hampden-Sydney College]] was established privately in 1775 but not incorporated until 1783.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Hampden-Sydney College |publisher=Hampden-Sydney College |url=http://www.hsc.edu/documents/About%20H-SC/HistoryofHSC.pdf |access-date=6 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209124248/http://www.hsc.edu/documents/About%20H-SC/HistoryofHSC.pdf |archive-date=2019-02-09}}</ref>

====Canada====
Eight Canadian universities and colleges were founded or reconstituted under royal charters in the 19th century, prior to [[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]] in 1867. Most Canadian universities originally established by royal charter were subsequently reincorporated by acts of the relevant parliaments.<ref name=CanadaUni>{{cite book |pages=59–60 |title=The Handbook of Canadian Higher Education |last1=Shanahan |first1=Theresa |last2=Nilson |first2=Michelle |last3=Broshko |first3=Li Jeen |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press |date=2016 |isbn=9781553395058 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJcHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT59 |access-date=16 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822184334/https://books.google.com/books?id=DJcHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT59#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

The [[University of King's College]] was founded in 1789 and received a royal charter in 1802, naming it, like Trinity College, Dublin, "the Mother of an University" and granting it the power to award degrees.<ref>{{cite book |pages=[https://archive.org/details/universitykings00hindgoog/page/n40 26]–30 |title=The University of King's College, Windsor, Nova Scotia: 1790–1890 |last=Hind |first=Henry Youle |publisher=Church Review Company |date=1890 |url=https://archive.org/details/universitykings00hindgoog}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=History |publisher=University of King's College |url=https://ukings.ca/campus-community/about-kings/history/ |access-date=16 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323214349/https://ukings.ca/campus-community/about-kings/history/ |archive-date=23 March 2019}}</ref> The charter remains in force.<ref>{{cite web |title=King's College Act |date=3 December 1998 |website=NSLegislature.ca |url=https://nslegislature.ca/legc/bills/57th_1st/3rd_read/b075.htm |access-date=16 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822184339/https://nslegislature.ca/legc/bills/57th_1st/3rd_read/b075.htm |archive-date=22 August 2024 |quote=The Royal Charter, bearing date May 12, 1802, granted by His Majesty King George III, authorizing the 'Governors, President and Fellows of King's College at Windsor in the Province of Nova Scotia' to confer degrees, is not affected by this Act, except in so far as may be necessary to give effect to this Act.}}</ref>
[[File:Arts Building, McGill University, Aug 31 2022.jpg|thumb|The McGill University [[Arts Building (McGill University)|Arts Building]] in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]]]]

[[McGill University]] was established under the name of ''McGill College'' in 1821, by a provincial royal charter issued by Governor General of British North America [[George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie|the Earl of Dalhousie]]; the charter stating that the "College shall be deemed and taken to be an University" and should have the power to grant degrees.<ref>{{cite web |title=1821 Charter |publisher=McGill University |url=http://archives.mcgill.ca/public/exhibits/installation/main/gallery-1821.htm |access-date=16 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730122748/http://archives.mcgill.ca/public/exhibits/installation/main/gallery-1821.htm |archive-date=30 July 2012}}</ref> It was reconstituted by a royal charter issued in 1852 by [[Queen Victoria]], which remains in force.<ref>{{cite web |title=1852 Charter |publisher=McGill University |url=http://archives.mcgill.ca/public/exhibits/installation/main/gallery-1852.htm |access-date=16 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217072118/http://www.archives.mcgill.ca/public/exhibits/installation/main/gallery-1852.htm |archive-date=17 February 2019}}</ref>

The [[University of New Brunswick]] was founded in 1785 as the Academy of Liberal Arts and Sciences and received a provincial charter as the College of New Brunswick in 1800. In the 1820s, it began giving university-level instruction and received a royal charter under the name ''King's College'' as a "College, with the style and privileges of an University", in 1827. The college was reconstituted as the University of New Brunswick by an act of the provincial parliament in 1859.<ref>{{cite journal |title=King's College, New-Brunswick, January 1, 1829. Inauguration of the Chancellor |journal=The New-Brunswick Religious and Literary Journal |pages=4–7 |volume=1 |date=1829 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iJ4sAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=UNB's Heraldic Tapestries |publisher=University of New Brunswick |url=https://lib.unb.ca/225/tapestries.php |access-date=16 February 2019}}</ref>

The [[University of Toronto]] was founded by royal charter in 1827, under the name of ''King's College'', as a "College, with the style and privileges of an University", but did not open until 1843. The charter was subsequently revoked and the institution replaced by the University of Toronto in 1849, under provincial legislation.<ref>{{cite web |title=The University's original charter |publisher=University of Toronto |url=https://utarms.library.utoronto.ca/about/uoft-history/university-original-charter |access-date=15 February 2019}}</ref> [[Victoria University, Toronto|Victoria University]], a college of the University of Toronto, opened in 1832 under the name of the ''Upper Canada Academy'', giving "pre-university" classes, and received a royal charter in 1836. In 1841. a provincial act replaced the charter, reconstituted the academy as Victoria College, and granted it degree-awarding powers.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Cobourg Years: 1829–1849 |publisher=Victoria University |url=http://www.vicu.utoronto.ca/about/History_of_Victoria/The_Cobourg_Years__1829-1849.htm |access-date=15 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216153148/http://www.vicu.utoronto.ca/about/History_of_Victoria/The_Cobourg_Years__1829-1849.htm |archive-date=16 February 2019}}</ref> Another college of the University of Toronto, [[Trinity College, Toronto|Trinity College]], was incorporated by an act of the legislature in 1851 and received a royal charter in 1852, stating that it, "shall be a University and shall have and enjoy all such and the like privileges as are enjoyed by our Universities of our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland".<ref>{{cite book |pages=48–49 |title=A History of the University of Trinity College, Toronto, 1852–1952 |last=Reed |first=Thomas Arthur |year=1952 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofunivers00reed/page/48}}</ref>
[[File:Staufferlibrary.JPG|thumb|left|[[Stauffer Library]] at [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] in [[Kingston, Ontario]]]]

[[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] was established by royal charter in 1841. This remains in force as the university's primary constitutional document and was last amended, through the Canadian federal parliament, in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Queen's royal charter |work=Queen's Alumni Review |date=2018 |last=Dorrance |first=Nancy |publisher=Queen's University |url=https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/alumnireview/stories/queens-royal-charter |access-date=16 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822184342/https://www.queensu.ca/alumnireview/articles/2016-11-14/the-queen-s-royal-charter |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

{{Lang|fr|[[Université Laval]]|italic=no}} was founded by royal charter in 1852, which granted it degree awarding powers and started that it would, "have, possess, and enjoy all such and the like privileges as are enjoyed by our Universities of our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland".<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c6pbAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA69 |chapter=Copy of the Charter for Erecting the Seminary of Quebec into an University |title=Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons |date=1856 |access-date=17 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822184342/https://books.google.com/books?id=c6pbAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA69#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> This was replaced by a new charter from the [[National Assembly of Quebec]] in 1971.<ref>{{cite web |title=Origin and history |publisher=Laval University |url=https://www.ulaval.ca/en/about-us/about-ul/origin-and-history.html |access-date=17 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218082052/https://www.ulaval.ca/en/about-us/about-ul/origin-and-history.html |archive-date=18 February 2019}}</ref>

[[Bishop's University]] was founded, as Bishop's College, by an act of the Parliament of the Province of Canada in 1843 and received a royal charter in 1853, granting it the power to award degrees and stating that, "said College shall be deemed and taken to be a University, and shall have and enjoy all such and the like privileges as are enjoyed by our Universities of our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland".<ref>{{cite web |title=1843–1853 |publisher=Bishop's University |url=https://www.ubishops.ca/about-bu/historical-timeline/1843-1853/ |access-date=17 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218083559/https://www.ubishops.ca/about-bu/historical-timeline/1843-1853/ |archive-date=18 February 2019}}</ref>

The [[University of Ottawa]] was established in 1848 as the College of Bytown. It received a royal charter under the name ''College of Ottawa'', raising it to university status in 1866.<ref>{{cite web |title=Brief history |publisher=University of Ottawa Archives |url=https://www.uottawa.ca/archives/en/history-ottawa-university/brief-history |access-date=17 February 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822184347/https://www.uottawa.ca/about-us/vision-values-history/history-uottawa |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

====Australia====
The older Australian universities of [[University of Sydney|Sydney]] (1850) and [[University of Melbourne|Melbourne]] (1853) were founded by acts of the legislatures of the colonies. This gave rise to doubts about whether their degrees would be recognised outside of those colonies, leading to them seeking royal charters from London, which would grant legitimacy across the British Empire.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WHo2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT129 |page=129 |title=Women in Higher Education, 1850–1970: International Perspectives |editor1=E. Lisa Panayotidis |editor2=Paul Stortz |publisher=Routledge |date=2017 |chapter=The final barrier? Australian women and the nineteenth-century public university |author=Julia Horne |isbn=9781134458240 |access-date=11 June 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822184851/https://books.google.com/books?id=WHo2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT129#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

The [[University of Sydney]] obtained a royal charter in 1858. This stated that (emphasis in the original):

{{blockquote|the Memorialists confidently hope that the Graduates of the University of Sydney will not be inferior in scholastic requirements to the majority of Graduates of British Universities, and that it is desirable to have the degrees of the University of Sydney generally recognised throughout our dominions; and it is also humbly submitted that although our Royal Assent to the Act of Legislature of New South Wales hereinbefore recited fully satisfies the principle of our law that the power of granting degrees should flow from the Crown, yet that as that assent was conveyed through an Act which has effect only in the territory of New South Wales, the ''Memorialists believe that the degrees granted by the said University under the authority of the said Act, are not legally entitled to recognition beyond the limits of New South Wales''; and the Memorialists are in consequence most desirous to obtain a grant from us of Letters Patent requiring all our subjects to recognise the degrees given under the Act of the Local Legislature in the same manner as if the said University of Sydney had been an University established within the United Kingdom under a Royal Charter or an Imperial enactment.}}

The charter went on to (emphasis in the original):

{{blockquote|will, grant and declare that the Degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, Bachelor of Laws, Doctor of Laws, Bachelor of Medicine, and Doctor of Medicine, already granted or conferred or hereafter to be granted or conferred by the Senate of the said University of Sydney shall be recognised as Academic distinctions and rewards of merit ''and be entitled to rank, precedence, and consideration in'' our United Kingdom and in our Colonies and possessions throughout the world ''as fully as if the said Degree had been granted by any University of our said United Kingdom''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Royal Charter of the University of Sydney |date=27 February 1858 |publisher=University of Sydney |url=https://sydney.edu.au/policies/showdoc.aspx |access-date=10 June 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618104437/http://sydney.edu.au/policies/showdoc.aspx |archive-date=18 June 2019}}</ref>}}

The University of Melbourne's charter, issued the following year, similarly granted its degrees equivalence with those from British universities.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYYWDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA187 |page=187 |title=Music and Institutions in Nineteenth-Century Britain |editor=Paul Rodmell |chapter=Resisting the Empire? Public Music Examinations in Melbourne 1896–1914 |author=Kieran Crichton |publisher=Routledge |date=2016 |isbn=9781317092476 |access-date=11 June 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822184854/https://books.google.com/books?id=VYYWDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA187#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

The act that established the [[University of Adelaide]] in 1874 included women undergraduates, causing a delay in the granting of its charter as the authorities in London did not wish to allow this. A further petition for the power to award degrees to women was rejected in 1878 – the same year that London was granted that authority. A charter was finally granted – admitting women to degrees – in 1881.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WHo2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT124 |pages=124, 128–131 |title=Women in Higher Education, 1850–1970: International Perspectives |editor1=E. Lisa Panayotidis |editor2=Paul Stortz |publisher=Routledge |date=2017 |chapter=The final barrier? Australian women and the nineteenth-century public university |author=Julia Horne |isbn=9781134458240 |access-date=11 June 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822185012/https://books.google.com/books?id=WHo2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT124#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |pages=62–64 |title=Knowing Women: Origins of Women's Education in Nineteenth-Century Australia |author=Marjorie R. Theobald |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521422321 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qfk4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA62 |access-date=11 June 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822184900/https://books.google.com/books?id=qfk4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=22 August 2024}}</ref>

The last of Australia's 19th century universities, the [[University of Tasmania]], was established in 1890 and obtained a royal charter in 1915.<ref>{{cite web |title=Letters Patent granted to the University of Tasmania, signed 30th August 1915 |last=V |first=George |date=1 August 2018 |publisher=eprints.utas.edu.au |url=http://eprints.utas.edu.au/15939}}</ref>