(or vellum) continues to be used for ritual or legal reasons. Rabbinic literature traditionally maintains that the institution of employing parchment made of animal hides for the writing of ritual objects, as detailed below. In the United Kingdom, until 2015 Acts of Parliament were printed on vellum, and it is still used for the covers of record copies of Acts.

The heyday of parchment use was during the medieval period, but there has been a growing revival of its use among artists since the