LITERAE PATENTES

literae patentes (lit-[schwa]r-ee p[schwa]-ten-teez), n. [Latin “open letters”] Hist. A public grant from the sovereign to a subject, conferring the right to land, a franchise, a title, liberty, or some other endowment. • The modern “patent” and, more closely, “letters patent” derive from this term. See LETTERS PATENT(1). “The term ‘patent’ is short for ‘letters […]