How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Necromancy is Free Magic, not governed by the Charter…'"
"Father's was different," replied Sabriel distantly, still staring at the bell she held in her hand… "Binding, not raising. He was a faithful servant of the Charter." (1.64-65)
Sabriel makes the distinction here between the Free Magic ways of most necromancers, and the way in which her father practices necromancy, trying to bring order to the powerful forces of death.
Quote #2
"There hasn't been a King or Queen for two hundred years, and not even a Regent for twenty. That's why the Kingdom sinks day by day, into a darkness from which no one will rise…"
"The charter—" Sabriel began, but Mogget interrupted with a yowl of derision.
"The Charter crumbles too," he mewed. "Without a ruler, Charter Stones broken one by one with blood, one of the Great Charters twi… twis… twisted—" (9.25-27)
The need for rules and order in the Old Kingdom is shown here, as Sabriel and Mogget discuss the peril in the Kingdom. With the land in anarchy and the Charter threatened, not only chaos, but evil will descend on the land. The Old Kingdom needs rules and order to maintain peace.
Quote #3
"No. No regency. No one reigns. No one rules. There was a regency at first, but it declined… with help." (14.26)
Mogget explains the anarchy in the Old Kingdom to Touchstone, who fears for the fate of the Old Kingdom without a ruler on the throne.
Quote #4
Five Great Charters knit the land / together linked, hand in hand / One in the people who wear the crown / Two in the folk who keep the Dead down / Three and Five became stone and mortar / Four sees all in frozen water. (17.81)
This nursery rhyme, recited to Sabriel by a young child from the village of Nestowe, explains the history and rules that form the basis of the Charter—this is what has ensured the stability of the Old Kingdom for centuries. Repeated in a child's rhyme, its school-like simplicity summarizes a system for controlling some seriously powerful magic.
Quote #5
"The people, or whatever they were who made the great Charters, put three in bloodlines and two in physical constructions: the Wall and the Great Stones. All the lesser stones draw power from one or the other." (18.51)
As Touchstone explains here, the need for order in the Old Kingdom is so great that the powerful magic system runs through walls, stone, and even blood. We don't get to find out how this system was created, and it doesn't sound like Touchstone knows even though he's been around for over two hundred years—which means this is a seriously old system of rules.
Quote #6
"Somewhere along the path of his studies, he'd swapped real Life for power and, like all the Dead, he needed to take life all the time to stay out of Death. But the Charter made it very difficult for him to do that anywhere in the Kingdom. So he decided to break the Charter." (18.67)
The rules that govern the use of magic are clearly in place so that corrupted sorcerers—like Kerrigor—don't take advantage of the supernatural powers in the Old Kingdom. Breaking these rules, in the form of the Charter, is seen as the ultimate in evil.
Quote #7
Her father's sword was only a few paces further away. She picked it up, and watched the Charter marks flow along the blade. This time, they didn't run through the normal inscription, but said:
"The Clayr saw me, the Wallmaker made me, the King quenched me, the Abhorsen wields me so that no Dead shall walk in Life. For this is not their path."
"This is not their path," whispered Sabriel. (28.69-70)
At the final battle, the spells etched into Sabriel's sword change, reiterating the rules of the Charter and the basis of Sabriel's beliefs. The crucial rule here that Sabriel is fighting to defend is that the Dead shall not walk in Life.