Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CHART'ER, n. [Fr. chartre, from L. charta. See Card.]

1. A written instrument, executed with usual forms, given as evidence of a grant, contract, or whatever is done between man and man. In its more usual sense, it is the instrument of a grant conferring powers, rights, and privileges, either from a king, or other sovereign power, or from a private person, as a charter of exemption, that no person shall be impannelled on a jury, a charter of pardon, &c. The charters under which most of the colonies in America were settled, were given by the king of England, and incorporated certain persons, with powers to hold the lands granted, to establish a government, and make laws for their own regulation. These were called charter-governments.
2. Any instrument, executed with form and solemnity, bestowing rights or privileges. – Dryden. South.
3. Privilege; immunity; exemption. My mother, / Who has a charter to extol her blood, / When she does praise me, grieves me. – Shak.