conveyancing, contracts. A writing or instrument, under seal, containing some contract or agreement, and which has been delivered by the parties. It is usually used to describe the document which transfers the ownership of real estate.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
A sealed instrument containing a contract or covenant, delivered by the party to be bound thereby, and accepted by the party to whom the contract or covenant runs. A writing containing a contract sealed and delivered to the party thereto. 3 Washb. Real Prop. 239. In its legal sense, a “deed” is an instrument in writing, upon paper or parchment, between parties able to contract, subscribed, sealed, and delivered. Insurance Co. v. Avery, 60 Ind. 572; 4 Kent, Comm. 452. In a more restricted sense, a written agreement signed, sealed, and delivered, by which one person conveys land, tenements, or hereditaments to another. This is its ordinary modern meaning. Sanders v. Riedinger, 30 App. Div. 277, 51 N. Y. Supp. 937; Reed v. Hazleton, 37 Kan. 321, 15 Pac. 177; Dudley v. Sumner, 5 Mass. 470; Fisher v. Pender, 52 N. C. 485. The term is also used as synonymous with “fact,” “actuality,” or “act of parties.” Thus a thing “in deed” is one that has been really or expressly done; as opposed to “in law,” which: means that it is merely implied or presumed to have been done. Deed in fee. A deed conveying the title to land in fee simple with the usual covenants. Rudd v. Savelli, 44 Ark. 152; Moody v. Railway Co., 5 Wash. 699, 32 Pac. 751. Deed indented, or indenture. In conveyancing. A deed executed or purporting to be executed in parts, between two or more parties, and distinguished by having the edge of the paper or parchment on which it is written indented or cut at the top in a particular manner. This was formerly done at the top or side, in a line resembling the teeth of a saw; a formality derived from the ancient practice of dividing chirographs; but the cutting is now made either in a waving line, or more commonly by notching or nicking the paper at the edge. 2 Bl. Comm. 295, 296; Litt.