Second Language Legal English
In everyday use, the word deed means an act or something that has been done, performed or accomplished, usually with intention. It is linked with doing good, an act of kindness or offering help. As a child, I was encouraged to do a good deed every day. Both Christians and Muslims demonstrate their faith through their good deeds.
By contrast, lawyers use the word deed to refer to a formal document in writing that is mostly, but not exclusively, related to land. The phrase "signed, sealed and delivered" is borrowed from this binding, legal document and used in everyday speech to indicate something important that is promised, and guaranteed. Think of the Stevie Wonder song Signed, Sealed, Delivered, (I'm Yours).
A deed is different from a contract in two ways. You can make a verbal contract using spoken words only, but a deed is always an instrument in writing. A contract requires consideration (the price paid for the bargain) but a deed is enforceable by the person receiving its benefit even when they have done nothing in return for the promise. A valid deed:
a. must state that it is a deed and executed (signed) as such (face value)
b. need not be sealed, but it must be signed, and the signature must be witnessed
c. must be delivered. This does not refer to the movement of the document from one party to the other, although in the past a party would touch the seal with a finger and say words such as “I deliver this as my act and deed”, which may be where the word deed combines its common and legal meaning. Today, it is enough if the document makes it clear that the parties intend to enter into a binding promise in the form of a deed.
Lawyers tend to follow a format when drafting a deed:
a. the description of the deed, or its purpose; the reason why it has been written,
b. a statement of who the parties are,
c. the recitals - the background information or reasons why the parties are entering into the deed,
d. the witnessing part, which usually starts with the words, "Now this deed witnesses as follows ... "
e. the operative part: the creation of a mortgage, the transfer of land, a covenant to do or not do something.
f. the concluding part "In witness whereof the parties have signed ... ", and finally,
g. the parties' signatures and the witness' signatures.
There is a tendency still to use archaic language such as "parcels" (the land involved) and "these presents" (the statements made in the deed), and should be resisted. Lawyers find comfort in using language that has been used over the centuries, but it does not create anything more binding or understandable, so let's try to be clear and plain in our use of words.
I sometimes receive a deed that contains a 'backing sheet' which I show in the later newsletter. It, too, belongs to a past age and the sheet should be thrown away.
A deed may be used:
to arrange a debtor's financial affairs with a creditor, called a deed of arrangement
to set out the terms of a trust (a trust deed)
to gain a tax advantage by paying a set amount over a specified period (a deed of covenant)
to make a gift of something legally binding where no consideration is given by the recipient (a deed of gift)
to change a person's name (a deed poll)
Before land is registered (where ownership is proven by production of the register) title to the land is established by producing title deeds (conveyances, mortgages, leases) going back to a good root of title.
Use of the word
American lawyers are comfortable to use deed as a verb. British lawyers are not.
There were several reasons why the land was deeded back to the grantor.
Parties enter into a deed.
Property is conveyed by deed (not by a deed).
A document is executed as a deed.
A deed takes effect on delivery.
The type of deed is stated as a deed of followed by its subject:
a deed of arrangement
a deed of covenant
a deed of gift
a deed of variation
a deed of trust.