DEED, in law, a contract in writing, sealed and delivered by the party bound to the party intended to benefit. Contracts or obligations under seal are called in English law specialties, and down to 1869 they took precedence in payment over simple con tracts, whether written or not. Writing, sealing and delivery are all essential to a deed. The signature of the party charged is not material, and the deed is not void for want of a date. De livery, it is held, may be complete without the actual handing over of the deed; it is sufficient if the act of sealing were accompanied by words or acts signifying that the deed was intended to be pres ently binding; and delivery to a third person for the use of the party benefited will be sufficient. On the other hand, the deed may be handed over conditionally as an escrow, in which case it will not take effect as a deed until the conditions are per formed. A deed indented, or indenture (so called because written in counterparts on the same sheet of parchment, separated by cutting a wavy line between them so as to be identified by fitting the parts together), is between two or more parties who con tract mutually. The actual indentation is not now necessary to an indenture. The deed-poll (with a polled or smooth-cut edge, not indented) is a deed in which one party binds himself without expression of any obligations undertaken by another party. (See CONTRACT.) Statutes have been enacted in many of the United States, as in Great Britain and her colonies, setting forth certain short and convenient forms for deeds, thus giving effect to statutory provisions and forms. In the United States a deed has the effect of feoffment with livery of seisin or as a deed under the statute of uses or of any species of conveyance necessary to effect the intent of the parties and not repugnant to the legal requirements.