the.com/charter

means A formal written document that grants rights, establishes an institution, or sets out the rules by which a group will govern itself.

from From Old French 'chartre', descending from Latin 'charta' meaning a leaf of papyrus or paper — the physical writing material itself. 'Charta' traces back to Greek 'khartēs', a sheet of papyrus. So the word's whole career is a slow promotion: it starts out meaning simply 'a piece of paper' and ends up meaning 'the paper that binds kings and companies to their word' — most famously in Magna Carta, 'the great charter,' which is really just Latin for 'the great piece of paper,' dressed up by history into something sacred.