Definition
"Are charged" is a term of art in conveyancing and covenant drafting that, when applied to a covenantor's estate, operates as words of immediate and present encumbrance. The phrase creates an existing charge upon the covenantor's lands at the moment the instrument takes effect — as opposed to the future-tense formulation "he will charge," which expresses a promise or covenant to encumber rather than an encumbrance already made. The distinction is one of operative effect: "are charged" constitutes the charge; "will charge" only binds the covenantor to create one.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Are charged" in ordinary English means to be accused of wrongdoing, or to have a cost or fee imposed.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Charged" means loaded, burdened, or accused; to charge is to impose a duty, cost, or accusation upon a person or thing.
The gap here is significant. In common usage, "are charged" almost invariably signals a criminal accusation or the imposition of a fee. In conveyancing, it has nothing to do with accusations or invoices — it is a term of art that constitutes an immediate in rem encumbrance on real property. A researcher encountering the phrase in a deed or covenant instrument must resist the ordinary-language instinct entirely.
Common Confusion
"Are charged" and "will charge" look nearly interchangeable to modern eyes but carry opposite legal consequences in historical conveyancing. "Are charged" creates the encumbrance directly by the instrument itself; "will charge" is a personal covenant promising future action, enforceable against the covenantor but not necessarily binding the land immediately. Confusion between the two could lead a researcher to mischaracterize whether a lien or charge attached to the property at conveyance or remained merely a personal obligation.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in historical conveyancing instruments and covenant drafting from English and early American property law. Researchers working with deeds, settlement agreements, or mortgage-adjacent instruments from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries need to recognize the phrase as a term of art with immediate operative effect on title. It will not appear in modern drafting in this technical sense; contemporary instruments use more explicit language of encumbrance (lien, mortgage, charge upon real property).
The primary trap is anachronistic reading: a researcher who treats "are charged" as casual language or conflates it with the criminal or financial sense will misread the instrument's legal effect entirely. The phrase is dispositive on the question of whether an encumbrance attached.
The Bouvier's entry references 2 Ball & Beatty 223, an Irish equity report, signaling that this doctrine traveled through English equity jurisprudence into American property law. Researchers tracing the doctrine should be aware that its clearest articulation appears in English and Irish equity sources, and that American adoption may be uneven and unremarked in secondary sources.
Cross-corpus note: Researchers who encounter "are charged" in a real estate transaction context — particularly in documents touching prorations, assessments, or closing adjustments — should consult the encyclopedia entry on prorations for the modern framework governing how charges attach and are allocated at closing. The conceptual lineage is related, though the modern treatment is entirely distinct.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's is the primary historical dictionary source for this entry and treats the distinction between "are charged" and "will charge" as settled doctrine supported by equity authority. Bouvier characterizes "are charged" as creating a "clear charge" — the word "clear" doing meaningful work, suggesting the encumbrance is unambiguous and immediate rather than contingent on future performance.
Bouvier cites the American and English Encyclopedia of Law and the Irish equity report 2 Ball & Beatty 223 (Ball & Beatty were Irish equity reporters active in the early nineteenth century). Neither Burrill's Law Dictionary nor Black's first edition provides a dedicated entry for this phrase, suggesting it was treated as a term well-understood within conveyancing practice rather than requiring extended definition. The absence from later dictionaries reflects the phrase's decline in active drafting use rather than any change in its doctrinal meaning.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
The Law Mind Real Estate Transactions & Construction Encyclopedia: Prorations — Taxes, Insurance, Rents, HOA Assessments, and Utility Charges