II.   Sovereign

A Royal Patent, or Letters Patent, is a public Decree issued under the Great Seal of a kingdom by the sovereign conferring some exclusive privilege, or exemption or use of property or authority that would otherwise be unlawful. 

The term “Patent” is derived directly from the Latin patens meaning “open, accessible, exposed, published, broad or evident” and refers to the invention of the concept of official government records and licensing by the Venetians in the 15th Century (from 1474 officially under the Statute of Patents) as a means of managing rights of trade, property and commerce. Hence Letters Patent means literally “published writings”. 

Contrary to deliberately false and misleading history In English law, the Patent system was not introduced into England until late (1545 onwards) in the reign of King Henry VIII of England (1509-1547) in direct response to demands by Venetian merchants for “exclusive licenses” and the control of trade and commerce:

(i) A fundamental element of Letters Patent is the existence of the Rolls system, which was not introduced into English government properly until 1545 (37Hen8.c.1) and the position of the “Custos Rotulorum”. Therefore, all acts (including acts under the reign of Henry VIII prior to 1545) mentioning Patents prior to this time are to be considered false and deliberately misleading, trickery, and a lie. The claim that the Patent Rolls of England date back to the 13th Century under Hubert Walter are an absurdity given the very people who are claimed to have invented Patents (the Venetians) did not define their own system properly until 1474 onwards; and

(ii) Furthermore, the nature of grants and charters under monarchs prior to King Henry VIII existed for the life of the monarch, hence there was little incentive nor credible evidence for such a “modern” system of record keeping; and

(iii) Historic evidence points to the majority of grants prior to the 16th Century focusing on the custom of certain elaborate rituals of court and witnessed by the court for a valid grant, rather than systems of documentary evidence; and

(iv) A core reason and motive for the invention of the Patent system in the 16th Century was the emergence of the corporation as an entity that could outlive the reign of a monarch and therefore possess a patent for a substantial number of years.

Since the invention of Letters Patent (Patents) by the Venetians and then adapted into English law after 1545, the Royal Patent system has depended upon several key elements being the Right, the Bill or Warrant, the Roll and the Letters Patent:

(i) A Right is some exclusive privilege, or exemption or use of property or authority that would otherwise be unlawful capable of being granted by the sovereign; and

(ii) A Bill or Warrant is the instrument directed either as a result of petition (to the sovereign) or by command (by the sovereign) and Privy Seal to have the Right recognized as a patent to the Chancellor to arrange for its proper record and preparation of the Letters Patent under the Great Seal; and

(iii) The Roll is the primary Register of the Right against a Person (hence a Roll). The Letters Patent is therefore an authentic extract from the Roll of the Title; and

(iv) The Letters Patent being sealed under the Great Seal and signed by the Sovereign.

Since the inception of Royal Patents (Letters Patent), valid Patents have obeyed the following conditions:

(i) Royal Patents have resembled Indulgences, later known as Dispensations in copying the Carolingian (Sacred Law) form of Convenia, with an opening prayer, a decree, a sign and seal and a testification; and

(ii) The Testificatio (Attestation) being the testification of the maker that it is their wish reflected in the covenant being Teste me ipso apud <> then date in Latin meaning “Witness myself at the place <> date”; and

(iii) No right granted under Patent may be perpetual unless also by an Act of Parliament to the same and since the 17th Century, no Patent may be granted for Invention unless it be for a determined number of years; and

(iv) Where Letters Patent for Lands, Annuities or Offices, the Value must be expressed; and

(v) When the sovereign passes a freehold, it is necessary that the patent be under the great seal; and

(vi) The Former Patent is to be mentioned where the Petition for Letters Patent is for reversion; and

(vii) Patents which do not bear the date and day of delivery of the warrant of the sovereign into Chancery are not good; and

(viii) Patents shall not be voided for artful language; and

(ix) If a Patent may be taken to two intents and it is good as to one Intent and not as to the other, then the Patent is valid.