Definition and Citations:
A sealed instrument, containing a contract or covenant, delivered by the party to be bound thereby, and accepted by the party to whom the contract or covenant runs.A writing containing a contract sealed and delivered to the party thereto. 3 Washb.Real Prop. 239. In its legal sense, a “deed” is an instrument in writing, upon paper or parchment, between parties able to contract, subscribed, sealed, and delivered. Insurance Co. v.Avery, 00 Ind. 572; 4 Kent, Comm. 452. In a more restricted sense, a written agreement, signed, sealed, and delivered, by which one person conveys land, tenements, or hereditaments to another. This is its ordinary modern meaning. Sanders v. Riedinger. 30 App. Div. 277. 51 N. Y. Supp. 937:Reed v. Hazleton, 37 Kan. 321. 15 Pac. 177; Dudley v. Sunnier. 5 Mass. 470; Fisher v.Pender, 52 N. C. 485. The term is also used as synonymous with “fact,” “actuality,” or “act of parties.”Thus a thing “in deed” is one that has been really or expressly done; as opposed to “inlaw,” which means that it is merely implied or presumed to have been done.
