CONVEY

7 definitions found across Law Mind sources

CONVEYAuthored
The Law Mind • 1105 words
Definition
To transfer the title to real property from one person to another by means of a written instrument. In its primary legal sense, to convey is to execute a legally sufficient transfer of ownership or interest in land — most commonly by deed or instrument under seal — so that title passes from grantor to grantee. The term carries a secondary, broader meaning in which it encompasses any written transfer of property rights, including the creation of easements, mortgages, and other interests in real property short of full fee transfer. In this broader usage, "convey" is roughly synonymous with "grant." The historical sources are consistent that convey applies properly to real property, not personal property. This distinction has softened in some modern statutory usage, where the word occasionally appears in contexts involving intangible or personal property rights, but the core association with real estate remains dominant. ---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To move something from one place to another; to communicate or make known; to transfer legal rights; also, archaically, to carry away secretly or steal. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To carry from one place to another; to cause something to pass from one place or person to another; to transmit (as air conveys sound); to transfer or deliver to another. The ordinary English senses — physical transport and communication — are irrelevant to the legal meaning and can mislead researchers reading older instruments. When a deed or statute uses "convey," it refers to the formal transfer of title or property rights, not mere physical movement or communication. The archaic sense of secret removal or theft (present in both Webster's and Wiktionary) occasionally surfaces in older criminal pleading but is entirely distinct from the conveyancing sense. ---
Common Confusion
CONVEY vs. GRANT: The two terms overlap substantially and are often used interchangeably in deeds, but they are not identical. "Grant" has a more specific common-law meaning tied to the formal transfer of incorporeal hereditaments and certain fee interests; "convey" is the broader operational word encompassing the act of transfer generally. Bouvier notes that "convey" is sufficient to answer the requisites of a grant at common law, meaning the word can do the work of "grant" even if the reverse is not always true. Researchers reading older instruments should not assume that the presence of one word and absence of the other signals a meaningful legal distinction — context and jurisdiction govern. CONVEY vs. ASSIGN: "Assign" is the proper term for transferring personal property, choses in action, and leasehold interests. Where older sources insist that "convey" relates only to real property, "assign" fills the parallel function for personalty. Confusion between the two in historical instruments can affect how courts interpreted the scope of a transfer. ---
Why It Matters in Research
The real-property limitation is the critical research trap. Pre-twentieth-century cases and instruments are strict about the real/personal property divide: using "convey" in an instrument transferring personal property could be argued to render the transfer ineffective or ambiguous. Researchers analyzing historical disputes over transfers of goods, choses in action, or leaseholds should verify which term was used and how the jurisdiction treated the distinction. Modern statutes — particularly Uniform Acts governing commercial transactions and some state property codes — have loosened this boundary. A researcher relying on historical doctrine to interpret a modern instrument, or vice versa, risks applying the wrong standard. The phrase "convey and warrant" appears frequently in deeds and creates a warranty of title by operation of law in many jurisdictions. The warranty implication is carried by the coupling, not by "convey" alone. Researchers should distinguish bare conveyance language from warranty deed language when assessing grantor liability. In older English and early American sources, "convey" also appears in contexts involving fraudulent transfer — the "conveyance to defraud creditors" formulation — where the legal meaning shades into the archaic common-language sense of covert removal. This is a distinct doctrine (see fraudulent conveyance) and should not be conflated with ordinary title-transfer usage. The Rapalje & Lawrence entry in the source corpus does not contain a direct definition of "convey" — the relevant excerpt addresses conversion, suggesting either a compilation error or a gap in that source's coverage of this term. Researchers should not rely on Rapalje & Lawrence for convey doctrine and should weight Black's, Bouvier's, and Burrill's instead. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's (both editions), Bouvier's, and Burrill's converge on the same core definition: to pass or transmit title or property by written instrument, with the stricter sense requiring a deed or instrument under seal. The agreement across these sources reflects settled doctrine, not independent derivation — all three draw on the same common-law conveyancing tradition. Burrill adds the Latin and Law French etymology (conveier, conveer, convehere) and the connection to conveyancing as a professional art — the skilled drafting of instruments to effect transfers. This framing is useful for understanding why "convey" saturates deed language: it was the term of art around which an entire branch of legal practice was organized. Bouvier's observation that "the word 'take' may be regarded as an equivalent of 'convey'" reflects a specific interpretive move courts occasionally made when instruments used non-standard language. It is not a general equivalence and should not be read as such — this is a narrow holding about substituted language in a particular Kentucky case, not a rule that "take" and "convey" are interchangeable in drafting. What the historical sources largely omit: the evolution of "convey" in recording act contexts, where the act of conveyance triggers recording obligations and priority rules. The historical dictionaries define the word as a transactional act but do not address the downstream legal consequences that attach to conveyances under notice, race-notice, and race recording statutes — a significant gap for researchers working with title chains. ---
Jurisdictional Note
Most U.S. jurisdictions treat "convey" as encompassing any written transfer of a real property interest, including mortgages and easements, not only fee-simple transfers. Some states' recording acts specifically define "conveyance" to include instruments that would not have been classified as conveyances at common law. Researchers should check the operative statutory definition of "conveyance" in the relevant jurisdiction before assuming the historical common-law scope applies. ---
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Conveyance; Deed; Fraudulent Conveyance; Recording Acts and Title Priority ---
Related Terms
Conveyance | Deed | Grant | Alienation | Transfer | Assign | Grantor | Grantee | Fee Simple | Warranty Deed | Quitclaim Deed | Fraudulent Conveyance | Title | Recording Acts | Conveyancer
CONVEYmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
To pass or transmit the title to property from one to another; to transfer property or the title to property by deed or instrument under seal. To convey real estate is, by an appropriate in- strument, to transfer the legal title to it from the present owner to another. 29 Conn. 356. Couvey relates properly to the disposition of real property, not to personal. 21 Barb. 551, 561.
CONVEYmain
Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928
To pass or transmit from one to another; to transfer property, or the title to property, by an instrument in writing. In a stricter sense, to transfer by deed or instrument under seel. See CONVEYANCE The word "take" may be regarded as an equivalent of "convey." 3 A. K. Mar. (Ky.) 509. The term "convey," we conceive is in meaning and effect sufficient to answer the requisites of a grant at common law and under our statute concerning conveyances, and to carry with it the legal estate and vest it in the grantee. 3 A. K. Mar. (Ky.) 621. The word "convey," used in an act, intended the passing of titles by convey- ances, technically so-called, and not wills which are only quasi conveyances, and are not properly described by the term convey- ance. 3 A. K. Mar. (Ky.) 509.
CONVEYmain
Rapalje & Lawrence • 1888
(289) is brought against one partner alone for a joint confirmation, release, surrender and dedebt, and judgment is obtained before the bankruptcy, the joint debt will be converted into a separate debt against that partner. Robs. Bankr. 605, 607. CONVERSION, (defined). 19 Conn. 319; 71 Me. 565; 10 Cush. (Mass.) 416. (what constitutes). 36 Me. 436; 7 Johns. (N. Y.) 254, 257; 10 Id. 172; 5 Cow. (Ν. Υ.) 323; 9 Wend. (N. Y.) 167; 23 Id. 462. feasance. See the various titles. 25. Under statute of uses.-Conveyances under the statute of uses (q. v.) are those which derive their force from the Stat. 27 Hen. VIII., by which the use or beneficial interest in land is in certain cases converted in the legal possession and ownership. CONVEY-CONVEYANCE.- 6. Conveyances of this kind are said to Apparently from the French: convoyer, to accompany operate with transmutation of possession, where teon with, voie; LATIN: via, a way); hence to convoy, take safely from one place to another, convey. (2 Diez 455.) "Conveyance," in the sense of a transfer of property, seems to be a comparatively modern term, the old word being "assurance" (qv.) Coke used "conveyance" as signifying that part of a pleading which serves as an explanation or introduction to the material facts. Co. Litt. 303 a. 21. In the widest sense of the word a conveyance is a mode by which property is conveyed or voluntarily transferred from one person to another by means of a written instrument and other formalities. It also signifies the instrument itself. Conveyances are of three classes: by matter of record, by matter in pais, and by special custom. (2 Bl. Com. 294, 344, where private acts of parliament are treated of under the head of conveyance.) As to conveyances generally, see the works of Elphinstone, Davidson, Bythewood and Jarman. 2. By matter of record.-Conveyances by matter of record are such as are substantiated by a court of record. The only examples of this class in use at the present day in England, are royal grants and vesting orders (q. v.) Fines and recoveries (q. v.) belonged to this class before their abolition. 23. By matter in pais. -Conveyances by matter in pais are such as only require the act or consent of the parties themselves, testified by the proper formalities. They are of three kinds, according as they operate by the common law, by the statute of uses, or under certain modern statutes. the possession of the land is first transferred by a conveyance taking effect independently of the statute of uses, and the statute then transfers the possession to the cestui que use. To this class belong the obsolete feoffiment to uses and the modern deed of grant to uses, in each of which the land is conveyed to a feoffee or grantee, and either by the same or by a separate instrument (whether contemporaneous or subsequent) uses are declared in favor of other persons to whom the legal possession and ownership are transferred by force of the statute. Examples of such convevances occur in a strict settlement, in which power is usually given to the tenant for life (the husband) to grant leases for twenty-one years. This is done by conveying the land to certain persons (called the "trustees of the powers") to the uses of the settlement, and by giving the tenant for life a power to appoint the land by way of lease for any term not exceeding twentyone years. (Wms. Sett. 37; 3 Dav. Prec. Conv. 480, 1005.) When fines and recoveries were employed as modes of conveyance, any complicated limitations required (as in settlements) were effected by deeds specifying the uses to which the land was to be held. If the deed was made previously to the fine or recovery, it was called "a deed to lead the uses"; if subsequently, "a deed to declare the uses." 2 Bl. Com. 363. See POWER. 7. Conveyances are said to operate without transmutation of possession where nothing but the use passes, until the statute takes effect; these include the bargain and sale, the covenant to stand seized, and the lease and release. 1 Hayes Conv. 76; 2 Id. 74, n. See those titles. 28. Under modern statutes. -Conveyances under modern English statutes include (1) the release under the Stat. 4 and 5 Vict. c. 21 (see LEASE AND RELEASE); (2) the modern deed of grant under Stat. 8 and 9 Vict. c. 106 (see GRANT); (3) disentailing deeds and conveyances by married women under Stat. 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 74 (see DISENTAILING DEED); (4) registered transfers under the Land Transfer Act, 1875 (see LAND REGISTRIES); and (5) conveyances of land to companies under the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845; transfers of ships by bill of sale under the Merchant Shipping Act, &c. Some writers include alienation by devise among conveyances (2 Bl. Com. 373; 1 Steph. Com. 588); but this is contrary to the usual meaning 4. At common law. -Conveyances at common law are said to be "original" or "primary" when they transfer the property without reference to a previous conveyance, and "derivative" or "secondary" when they f
CONVEYv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To carry from one place to another; to bear or transport. I will convey them by sea in fleats. 1 Kings v. 9. Convey me to my bed, then to my grave. Shak. To cause to pass from one place or person to another; to serve as a medium in carrying (anything) from one place or person to another; to transmit; as, air conveys sound; words convey ideas. To transfer or deliver to another; to make over, as property; more strictly (Law), to transfer (real estate) or pass (a title to real estate) by a sealed writing. The Earl of Desmond . . . secretly conveyed all his lands to feoffees in trust. Spenser. To impart or communicate; as, to convey an impression; to convey information. Men fill one another's heads with noise and sound, but convey not thereby their thoughts. Locke. To manage with privacy; to carry out. [Obs.] I . . . will convey the business as I shall find means. Shak. To carry or take away secretly; to steal; to thieve. [Obs.] To accompany; to convoy. [Obs.] Chaucer.
CONVEYv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To play the thief; to steal. [Cant] But as I am Crack, I will convey, crossbite, and cheat upon Simplicius. Marston.
conveyverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
To move (something) from one place to another. | To take or carry (someone) from one place to another. | To communicate; to make known; to portray. | To transfer legal rights (to). | To manage with privacy; to carry out. | To carry or take away secretly; to steal; to thieve.

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