DEED. A written' instrument under seal, containing a contract or agreement which has been delivered by the party to be bound and accepted by the obligee or covenantee.
Co. Litt. 171; 2 Bla. Com. 295; Shepp. Touchst. 50.
A writing containing a contract sealed and delivered to the party thereto. 3 Washb, R.
P. 239.
A writing under seal by which lands, tene ments, or hereditaments are conveyed for an estate not less than a freehold. 2 Bla. Com. 294.
A. writing or instrument, written on paper or parchment, sealed and delivered, to prove and testify the agreement of the parties whose deed it is to the things contained in the deed. American Button-Hole Overseam ing S. M. Co. v. Burlack, 35 W. Va. 647, 14 S.
E. 319. See Baker v. Westcott, 73 Tex. 129, 11 S. W. 157.
Any instrument in writing under seal, whether it relates to the conveyance of real estate or to any -other matter,—as, for instance, a bond, single bill, agreement, or contract of any kind,—is as much a deed as is a conveyance of real estate, and after delivery and acceptance, is obligatory ; Taylor v. Glaser, 2 S. & R. (Pa.) 504 ; Taylor v. Morton, 5 Dana (Ky.) 365 ; ' Davie v. Brandon, 1 How. (Miss.) 154. The term is, however, often used in the latter sense above given, and perhaps oftener tAan in its more general signification.
Deeds of feoffment. See FEOFFMENT. Deeds of grant. See GRANT.
Deeds indented are those to which there are two or more parties who enter into re ciprocal and corresponding obligations to each other. See INDENTURE.
Deeds of release or of quitclaim. See RE LEASE; QUITCLAIM.
Deeds poll are those which are the act of a single party and which do not require a counterpart. See DEED POLL.
Deeds under the statute of uses. See BAR GAIN AND SALE; COVENANT TO STAND SEISED; LEASE AND RELEASE.
According to Blackstone, 2 Com. 313, deeds may be considered as conveyances at common law,—of which the original are feoffment ; gift ; grant ; lease ; exchange ; partition: the derivative are release ; confirmation ; surrender ; assigument ; defeasance, —or conveyances which derive their force by virtue of the statute of uses: namely, covenant to stand seized to uses; bargain and sale of lands ; lease and release;. deed to lead and declare Imes; deed of revocation of uses.
For a description of the various forms in use in United States, see 2 Washb. R. P. 607.
Requisites of. Deeds must be upon paper or parchment ; Warren v. Lynch, 5 Johns. (N. Y.) 246 ; must be completely written be fore delivery : Perminter v. McDaniel, 1 Hill (S. C.) 267, 26 Am. Dec. 179; 6 M. & W. 216,
Am. ed. note ; 3 Washb. R. P. 239 ; but see Cribben v. Deal, 21 Or. 211, 27' Pac. 1046, 28 Am. St. Rep. 746; BLANK ; and filing in grantee's name after delivery in escrow is sufficient; Burk v: Johnson, 146 Fed.' 209, 76 C. C. A. 567 ; they may be partly written and partly printed, or entirely printed; must be between competent parties, see PARTIES ; and certain classes are excluded from hold ing lands, and, consequently, from being grantees in a deed,; see 1 Wash)). R. P. 73; 2 id. 564; must have been made without re straint; Inhabitants of Worcester v. Eaton, 13 Mass. 371, 7 Am. Dec. 155; 2 Bla. Com. 291; must contain the names of the grantor and grantee•; Hoffman v. Porter, 2 Brock. 156, Fed. Cas. No. 6,577; Morse v. Carpenter, 19 Vt. 613; Shaw v. Loud, 12 Mass. 447; Boone v. Moore, 14 Mo. 420; Games v. Dunn, 14 Pet. (U. S.) 322, 10 L. Ed. 476; Dunn v. Games, 1 McLean 321, Fed. Cas. No. 4;176; Elliot v. Sleeper, 2 N. H. 525; but a vari ance in the names set forth in the deed will not invalidate it; Jenkins v. Jenkins, 148 Pa. 216, 23 Atl. 985; must relate to suitable property ; Browne, Stat. Frauds § 6 ; 3 Washb. R. P. 331; must contain the requisite parts, see infra; must at common law be sealed; Sicard v. Davis, 6 Pet. (U. S.) 124, 8 L. Ed. 342; Thornt. Cony. 205; see Stanley v. Green, 12 Cal. 166 ; Munds v. Cassidey, 08 N. C. 568, 4 S. E. 353, 355 (1. p. in order to constitute, it a deed, though an unsealed in strument may operate as a conveyance of land ; Mitchell, R. P. 453 ; Barnes v. Mult nomah County, 145 Fed. 695) ; and should, for safety, be signed, even where statutes do not require it ; 3 Washb. R. P. 239; but see Newton v. Emerson, 66 Tex. 142, 18 S. W. 348. Previous to the Statute of Frauds, signing was not essential to a deed, provided it was sealed. The statute makes it so ; 2 Bla. Com. 306 ; contra, Shep. Touch. n., (24), Preston's ed., which latter is of opinion that the statute was intended to affect parol con tracts only, and not deeds. See Wms. R. P. 152; 2 Q. B. 580. Sir F. Pollock (Contracts 171) is of opinion that a deed does not re quire a signature, citing 4 Ex. 631; 3 Bla. Cora. 306. Where the grantor is present and authorizes another, either expressly or im pliedly, to sign his name to a deed, it then becomes his deed, and is as binding upon him ;, Gardner v. Gardner, 5 Cush. (Mass.) 483, 52 Am. Dec. 740 ; Dime v. Brooks, 31 N. C. 218; Frost v. Deering, 21 Me. 158.