Thomas Yonge or Young (c. 1405–1476) was an English politician and judge.
24-537: He was the elder son of Thomas Yonge (d. 1426), who was Mayor of Bristol in 1411, and Member of Parliament for Bristol in 1413–14. His younger brother, Sir John Yonge, settled in London , representing the city in Parliament and becoming Sheriff in 1455 and Lord Mayor in 1466. Being, like his brother, a strong Yorkist , he was knighted by Edward IV after his restoration to the throne on 20 May 1471. Thomas Yonge received
48-571: A royal decree made under the royal prerogative and are treated as statute law. Letters patent do not require the consent of parliament . In some Commonwealth realms, such as Canada and New Zealand ( Letters Patent, 1947 in Canada and Letters Patent 1983 in New Zealand), letters patent serve as formal legal instruments that officially grant powers to the governor general . An important function of Letters Patent in many Commonwealth Realms
72-606: A legal education at the Middle Temple , and from 1439 onwards his name frequently occurs in the year-books . Probably also he was the Thomas Yonge who was counsel for the city of Exeter in 1447. On 26 September 1435 he was returned to Parliament for Bristol, being described as a "mercator" (merchant). He was re-elected for the same constituency on 17 December 1436, 8 January 1441–42, 31 January 1446–47, 27 January 1448–49, 28 October 1449, and 5 October 1450. Bristol was, like most of
96-525: A person or corporation . Letters patent can be used for the creation of corporations , government offices, to grant city status or coats of arms . Letters patent are issued for the appointment of representatives of the Crown , such as governors and governors-general of Commonwealth realms , as well as appointing a Royal Commission . In the United Kingdom , they are also issued for the creation of peers of
120-476: A single alphabet letter ( littera ). Letters patent are a form of open or public proclamation and a vestigial exercise of extra-parliamentary power by a monarch or president. They can thus be contrasted with the Act of Parliament , which is in effect a written order by Parliament involving assent by the monarch in conjunction with its members. No explicit government approval is contained within letters patent, only
144-622: A variety of other purposes. They function dually as public records and personal certificates. In the United States, the forgery of letters patent granted by the President is a crime subject to fine, imprisonment up to ten years or both ( 18 U.S.C. § 497 ). Without letters patent, a person is unable to assume an appointed office. Such an issue prompted the Marbury v. Madison suit, where William Marbury and three others petitioned
168-552: Is to act as the order from the Monarch authorising the establishment and powers of a Royal Commission or a Special Commission of Inquiry. This can be seen in jurisdictions such as Australia where Letters Patent are frequently issued in relation to new and ongoing Royal Commissions . The primary source of letters patent in the United States are intellectual property patents and land patents , though letters patent are issued for
192-567: The bill to the House of Lords, and the king ordered that the Lords of the council should provide a remedy; but no further proceedings in the matter are recorded. Yonge was naturally not elected to the Lancastrian Parliament which met at Coventry , a curious side-light on the division of parties being afforded by the fact that two " generosi de nativitate " took the place of the usual "mercatores" in
216-463: The city. The Lord Mayor of Bristol is styled The Right Honourable , although without official sanction, rather than the more normal Right Worshipful enjoyed by most other Lord Mayors. The names of all Mayors and Lord Mayors of Bristol since 1216 are cut into the stone walls of the Conference Hall of Bristol City Hall . It is uncertain when the position of mayor came to existence, but records of
240-637: The contents back to the gentry in the shires through normal conversation and social intercourse. Today, for example, it is a convention for the British prime minister to announce that they have left a document they wish to enter the public domain "in the library of the House of Commons ", where it may be freely perused by all members of parliament . Letters patent are so named from the Latin verb patī , patior , to lie open, exposed, accessible. The originator's seal
264-638: The following day, and in November 1467 he was raised to the bench as Justice of the Common Pleas . However, he was not removed when Henry VI was restored in October 1470. He did lose his position during the puzzling rearrangement of the judiciary, when Edward IV regained his throne six months later, though he was exempted from the operation of the Act of Resumption in 1472–73. On 29 October 1475, in spite of his advanced age, he
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#1732852361593288-600: The general pardon issued after the temporary reconciliation of the two parties. On 7 July 1455 Yonge was once more elected for Bristol, and in January 1456 claimed redress for his arrest and imprisonment, reminding the Commons in his petition that all members "ought to have their freedom to speak and say in the house of their assembly as to them is thought convenient or reasonable without any manner of challenge, charge, or punition therefore to be laid to them in any wise". The Commons sent up
312-492: The mayor start from 1216 onwards. Mayors of Bristol included the following: Papers, photographs and newscuttings relating to Percy Cann are held at Bristol Archives (Ref. 33292) ( online catalogue ). Letters patent Letters patent ( plural form for singular and plural ) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch , president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly , title or status to
336-516: The patent remains in force) and to understand how to put it into practical use (once the patent rights expire). In the Holy Roman Empire , Austrian Empire , and Austria-Hungary , imperial patent was also the highest form of generally binding legal regulations, e.g. Patent of Toleration , Serfdom Patent , etc. The opposite of letters patent are letters close ( Latin : litterae clausae ), which are personal in nature and sealed so that only
360-413: The present day, with most of those to 1625 having been published. In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms , letters patent are royal proclamations granting an office, right, title, or status to a person (and sometimes in regard to corporations and cities). Letters patent take the form of an open letter from the monarch to a subject, although this is a legal fiction and they are in fact
384-412: The realm . A particular form of letters patent has evolved into the modern intellectual property patent (referred to as a utility patent or design patent in United States patent law ) granting exclusive rights in an invention or design. In this case, it is essential that the written grant should be in the form of a public document so other inventors can consult it both to avoid infringement (while
408-402: The recipient can read their contents. Letters patent are thus comparable to other kinds of open letter in that their audience is wide. It is not clear how the contents of letters patent became widely published before collection by the addressee, for example whether they were left after sealing by the king for inspection during a certain period by courtiers in a royal palace, who would disseminate
432-552: The representation of Bristol. He was, however, returned for Gloucestershire on 15 September 1460 to the Parliament which reversed the proceedings at Coventry. He probably also sat in the Parliaments of 1461 and 1462–63, the returns for which are lost, and the triumph of his party under Edward IV secured Yonge much administrative employment and legal promotion. On 7 November 1463 he was appointed serjeant-at-law , and king's serjeant on
456-400: The seal or signature of the monarch. Parliament today tolerates only a very narrow exercise of the royal prerogative by issuance of letters patent, and such documents are issued with prior informal government approval, or indeed are now generated by government itself with the monarch's seal affixed as a mere formality. In their original form they were simply written instructions or orders from
480-659: The sovereign, whose order was law, which were made public to reinforce their effect. For the sake of good governance, it is of little use if the sovereign appoints a person to a position of authority but does not at the same time inform those over whom such authority is to be exercised of the validity of the appointment. According to the United Kingdom Ministry of Justice , there are 92 different types of letters patent. The Patent Rolls are made up of office copies of English (and later United Kingdom) royal letters patent, which run in an almost unbroken series from 1201 to
504-612: The trading centres, Yorkist in sympathies, and in June 1451 Yonge distinguished himself by presenting to Parliament a petition from his constituents to the effect that the Duke of York should be recognised heir to the throne. This was part of the attack upon the Duke of Somerset , whose position was, however, unshaken; Parliament was dissolved, and Yonge was committed to the Tower . He was released in April 1452, on
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#1732852361593528-838: Was appointed a justice of the King's Bench . He died in the following year, and was buried in Christ Church, London . John Yonge (1467?–1516), the Master of the Rolls , is doubtfully said to have been his son, and Walter Yonge the diarist to have been descended from him. [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Pollard, Albert Frederick (1900). " Yonge, Thomas ". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 63. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 330. Lord Mayor of Bristol The position of Lord Mayor of Bristol
552-412: Was attached pendent from the document, so that it did not have to be broken in order for the document to be read. They are called "letters" (plural) from their Latin name litterae patentes , used by medieval and later scribes when the documents were written in Latin. This loanword preserves the collective plural "letters" ( litterae ) that the Latin language uses to denote a message as opposed to
576-559: Was conferred on the city in June 1899 (effective 15 November 1899) as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours and was confirmed by letters patent dated 1 April 1974. Prior to November 1899 the position of Mayor of Bristol had existed since 1216. The Lord Mayor is the Chairperson of the City Council and has the casting vote. As Bristol's first citizen, they are the non-political, ceremonial head of
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