GRANT. A generic term applicable to all transfers of real property. 3 Washb. R. P. 181, 353.
A transfer by deed of that which cannot be passed by livery. Wins. R. P. 147, 149. An aet evidenced by letters patent under the great seal, granting something from the king to a subject. Cruise, Dig. tit. 33, 34.
A technical term made use of in deeds of /conveyance of lands to import a transfer. 3 Washb. R. P. 378; Harlowe v. Hudgins, 84 Tex. 107, 19 S. W. 364, 31 Am. St. Rep. 21.
"This word is taken largely where any thing is granted or passed from one (the grantor) to another (the grantee). And in this sense it doth comprehend feoffment, bargains and sales, gifts, leases, charges, and the like; for be that doth give or sell doth grant also. . . . And so some grants are of the land or soil itself ; and some are of some profit to be taken out of, or from the soil, as rent, common, etc. ; and some are of goods and chattels; and some are of other things, as authorities, elections, etc."; Shepp. Touchst. 228.
The term grant was anciently and In strictness of usage applied to denote the con veyance of incorporeal rights, and it is the appropriate word for that purpose. Such rights are said to lie in grant, and not in livery; for, existing only in idea, in con templation of law, they cannot be transfer red by livery of possession. Of course at common law, a conveyance in writing was necessary ; hence they were said to lie in grant, and to pass by the delivery of the deed. By the act of 8 & 9 Viet. c. 106, § 2, and also by statute in some states, as New York, Maine, and Massachusetts, all corpo real hereditaments are said to lie in grant as well as in livery. See Sandford v. Travers, 40 N. Y. 140; Bates v. Foster, 59 Me. 160, 8 Am. Rep. 406. Grant is now therefore both sufficient, and technically proper, as a word of conveyance of a freehold estate, and in the largest sense the term comprehends • everything that is granted or passed from one to another, and is now applied to every species of property. But although the prop
er technical word, its employment is not ab solutely necessary, and it has been held that other words indicating an intention to grant will answer the purpose ; Wms. R. P. 6th Am. ed. 201; 5 B. & C. 101. As to the effect of the word grant in conveyances and how far any covenant is implied therefrom, see COVENANT.
Grant was one of the usual words in a feoffment ; and a grant differed but little from a feoffment except in the subject-mat ter; for the operative words used in grants are dedi et concessi, "have given and grant ed." But the simple deed of grant has su perseded the ancient feoffment, leases, and releases which were used to convey freehold estates in possession. See, generally, 1 Day. Cony. 73; 2 id. 76.
The word is also applied in the case of copyholds to indicate the acceptance by the lord of a person as tenant. It is termed an ordinary grant when the tenant is admit ted in pursuance of a surrender by the pre ceding tenant ; and voluntary grant when the land is in pOssession of the lord dis charged from all rights of any tenant, or as it is termed "in hand ;" in that case the lord regrants the land to the new tenant to be holden by copy of court roll.
A grant of personalty is a method of transferring personal property, distinguish ed from a gift, which is always gratuitous, by being founded upon some consideration or equivalent. Such grants are divided as to their subject-matter into grants of chat tels real, which includes leases, assignments, and surrenders of leases, and grants of chat tels personal, which consist of transfer of the right and possession of them whereby one renounces and the other acquires all title and interest therein. 2 Sharsw. Bla. Com. 440, and see also id, notes 1, 2, and 3. Such a grant may be by parol; 3 M. & S. 7 ; but they are usually by assignment or bill of sale in writing. The proper legal desig nation of such a grant is an "assignment" or bargain or sale; 2 Steph. Com. 102.