Definition
A copy or counterpart of a deed or other legal instrument. An antigraphy is a transcript or duplicate of a deed that corresponds exactly to the original, made for purposes of record, verification, or delivery to a party in a transaction.
Common Confusion
ANTIGRAPHY vs. COUNTERPART: These terms overlap but are not identical. A counterpart is a duplicate of a deed or contract that is itself executed (signed and delivered) as an original by one of the parties, so that both instruments together constitute a single binding agreement. An antigraphy, in historical usage, could refer either to such a counterpart or more broadly to any copy or transcript made from the original — a looser category. Modern research materials will use "counterpart" exclusively; antigraphy has no active modern equivalent.
ANTIGRAPHY vs. EXEMPLIFICATION: An exemplification is an official certified copy of a record, typically under seal of a court or public officer. An antigraphy does not necessarily carry official certification. The terms should not be conflated in historical research.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will almost never encounter this term in modern legal materials — it has fallen entirely out of active legal vocabulary and is effectively a historical artifact preserved only in older law dictionaries. Its research value is therefore archival rather than practical.
When working with older conveyancing records, deed registries, or treatises on real property from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a reader may encounter antigraphy in discussions of documentary formalities. In that context it functions similarly to what modern practice calls a "counterpart" — one of two or more identical copies of a deed, each signed by one or more parties, so that all parties hold an executed original. Researchers should be alert to the distinction: a counterpart in modern usage implies mutual execution, while antigraphy in historical usage more loosely encompasses any certified copy or transcript of a deed, not necessarily one executed by the grantor.
The term appears in Wharton's legal dictionaries, which both editions of Black's cite as authority. Researchers tracing this term should consult Wharton's Law Lexicon directly to assess the full scope of its original usage. The Black's entries are thin and should not be treated as comprehensive.
No meaningful jurisdictional variation exists because the term ceased to be operative before modern jurisdictional distinctions in conveyancing law developed. Researchers working in equity or ecclesiastical records may encounter it in English sources more frequently than in American materials.
Historical Dictionary Support
Both the first and second editions of Black's Law Dictionary give identical, single-sentence definitions: "a copy or counterpart of a deed." The second edition drops the citation to Wharton that appears in the first, suggesting a slight editorial contraction rather than any substantive revision. Neither edition elaborates on how an antigraphy was authenticated, how it differed from a mere copy made for reference, or whether it carried evidentiary weight equivalent to the original.
The brevity of both entries reflects the term's status even at the time of their publication: a learned Latin-derived term of art being preserved for completeness rather than because it was in active use. No evolution in meaning is detectable between editions because the entries are functionally identical.
What the historical sources do not address — and what a researcher working in older conveyancing practice would need to know — is the procedural context in which an antigraphy was produced and certified. Historical English conveyancing practice involved elaborate formalities around the engrossment and delivery of deeds, and the distinction between a certified counterpart and an uncertified copy carried legal significance that neither Black's entry illuminates.