If one looks in the archives of monarchies or legislative assemblies before 1800, one cannot help be struck by how many of the communications recevied by both assumed the form of a petition. These petitions could be as mundane as a vetern's or widow's request for a modest pension, as practical as the application for a patent monopoly or the charter for a new town; or as exhalted as as a claim for justice through the protection of a right or privilege that recently had been abridged or violated. But, as with all the communications within a monarchy (or any other sort of government) observance of the proper form of communication was critical to its success. Here are the prescribed forms of the petition as understood and practiced within the British system.