Letters patent (United Kingdom)

Letters patent (always in the plural; abbreviated to LsP by the Crown Office), in the United Kingdom, are legal instruments generally issued by the monarch granting an office, right, title (in the peerage and baronetage), or status to a person (and sometimes in regards to corporations and cities). Letters patent have also been used for the creation of corporations or offices, for granting city status, for granting coat of arms, and for granting royal assent.

Patents are prepared by the Crown Office; the name of the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery is subscribed/printed at the end of all documents as a way of authentication of their having passed through the Crown Office.^[1]

The form of letters patent have been disclosed by the Crown Office in as pro forma texts, and have been compiled here. The Ministry of Justice has said in the past that there are 92 unique types of letters.^[2] The text of letters patent can be altered for specification in certain situations, though the following texts are the general basis for draft.