Legal Definitions - Patent Roll

A Patent Roll is a historical, official record maintained in the United Kingdom that meticulously lists the various "letters patent" issued by the Crown during a particular year. These rolls served as a comprehensive register for a wide array of formal grants, privileges, and appointments made by the monarch. Historically, the items recorded on a Patent Roll could range from grants of land or official positions to the creation of peerages and, in later centuries, the exclusive rights granted for new inventions.

Here are some examples to illustrate the concept of a Patent Roll:

• Imagine a historian researching the origins of a prominent aristocratic family. To pinpoint the exact date and circumstances under which a particular ancestor was elevated to the peerage, they might consult the Patent Roll from the relevant year. This roll would contain the official entry for the "letters patent" issued by the monarch, formally creating the barony or earldom and outlining the specific terms of the grant. This entry on the Patent Roll serves as the definitive legal record of that title's creation.

• Consider a researcher studying the early development of a historic trading company, such as one granted a royal charter in the 17th century. To understand the legal foundation and exclusive rights bestowed upon the company, they would examine the Patent Roll from the year the charter was granted. The roll would document the "letters patent" that established the company, detailing its monopoly over trade in a specific geographical region, thereby illustrating how the Patent Roll recorded significant commercial privileges.

• An academic exploring the evolution of intellectual property rights might look at an 18th-century Patent Roll. They could discover an entry for "letters patent" issued to an inventor for a novel agricultural implement. This grant would have provided the inventor with a temporary exclusive right to manufacture and sell their invention, demonstrating how the Patent Roll, even before the modern patent system, served as the official record for early forms of invention protection.