COVENANT. In English law, a contract by deed or specialty, that is, one in which the validity of the promise does not depend upon consideration (q.v.) as in the case of simple contracts, but upon the formality of execution of the contract by sealing and delivery. The essential characteristic of covenants distinguish ing them from other specialties is the promise. Thus a bond differs from a covenant only in that it is a mere acknowledgment of indebtedness without an express promise to pay the amount of the bond.
The term covenant is also used in a narrower sense to indicate the promise or stipulation con tained in a specialty or deed which is incidental to its main purpose, as, for example, the cove nants of warranty contained in a deed of convey ance. Although consideration was not required to render a covenant valid and enforceable at law, courts of equity deemed the seal to be presump tive evidence of consideration only. and would not compel the covenantor to perform his promise if it appeared that no consideration was given for it. This is probably the effect of modern statutes, providing that the seal on sealed instru ments is only presumptive evidence of considera tion.
In general, covenants, from their nature, are required to be expressed in the instrument by which they are created, hut in certain excep tional cases they are implied from the character of the instrument itself, as for example the cove nants implied in a lease (q.v.).
At common law, the form of action used to recover damages for breach of covenant was also known as covenant. Under modern codes of pro cedure and practice acts, the action of covenant has become obsolete, the same office being per formed by the various statutory forms of con tract action. Covenants contained in the same instrument are said to be mutual, concurrent, or dependent. The covenants in an instrument are said to be mutual when performance by each of the parties entering into the covenant is a condition of performance by the other, so that no action for breach of covenant will lie unless the party suing has tendered the performance of his covenant before bringing his action. An inde pendent covenant is one which must be performed by the covenantor, irrespective of the perform ance of the covenantee's covenant in the same in strument.
Real cotenants, or covenants which at early common law bound the covenantor's heirs to the extent to which they inherited real estate, are now of slight importance, since all of the prop erty of a deceased person may be subjected to the payment of his debts. See ADMINISTRATION.
Covenants 'which run with the land is a term that embraces a special class of real covenants which relate to the use of real estate or require the covenantor to do something with reference to it. Their peculiarity is that any subsequent
transferee of the real estate is entitled to the benefit of the covenant, and may sue upon it, and that, in certain exceptional instances, when the covenant imposes a burden upon the owner of the real estate, the liability to perform the covenant passes to the transferee of the real estate. This is anomalous. See ASSIGNMENT; EASEMENT.
Cotenants for title, or covenants of warranty, are particular forms of covenants which run with the land, and are made by the grantor in a deed or instrument conveying real estate. The usual covenants of warranty are: "The -covenant of seisin (i.e. that the grantor is seized of the estate which he undertakes to convey) ; the covenant that the grantor has the right to convey ; the covenant for quiet enjoyment (i. e. that the grantor will not interfere with the use or enjoyment of the real estate by his grantee) ; the covenant for further assurance (i.e. that the grantor will make any further necessary conveyance to perfect his grantee's title) ; and the covenant of warranty, which binds the covenantee to warrant and defend the title against any one claiming under paramount title or interest in the real estate conveyed.
Formerly the effect of these covenants was to require the covenantor or his heirs to give the grantee other lands in case the title proved to be defective. In modern practice the effect of breach of any covenant for title is to entitle the covenantee or his grantee to recover damages. Covenants for title. however, are not deemed to he broken until the grantee is actually distnrbed in his possession. An important effect of cove nants for title is to estop the grantor, and all claiming under or through him, from claiming any interest in the title which he has warranted, thus conferring upon his grantee a title by estop pel, as it is said. See ESTOPPEL; WARRANTY.
Covenants to stand seized, formerly of great importance, were covenants by the owner of real estate to hold it to the use of, or in trust for, a relative. This covenant is of little importance in modern law. See USES; TRUST.
The terms 'affirmative,"negative,"joint,' and `several' are applied to covenants, but are with out peculiar significance in this connection. Con sult: Sims, Treatise on COrenallis (Chicago, i901) ; Ramie, Treatise un the Law of Co renants for Title (5th ed., Boston, 1S87). See BOND; CONTRACT; SPECIALTY; RESTRAINT OF TRADE; etc.; and consult the authorities there referred to. COVENANTERS. See COVENANTS, TILE; and PRESBYTERIANISM.