Definition
Latin: "I have given and granted." A formulaic phrase constituting the operative words of conveyance in ancient English charters of feoffment and in deeds of gift and grant. When used in a conveyancing instrument, dedi et concessi signaled the granting clause — the moment in the document where ownership or an interest in property was formally transferred from grantor to grantee. The phrase is historical in origin and practice; modern conveyancing has long since displaced it with vernacular equivalents or statutory short forms, but its echoes persist in the phrase "give and grant" still occasionally seen in deed language.
Common Language
This term has no meaningful common-language counterpart in modern English. It is pure Latin legal formula with no ordinary usage outside historical legal instruments. The COMMON LANGUAGE section is omitted accordingly.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering dedi et concessi will almost always be working with pre-modern instruments — medieval and early modern English charters, colonial-era deeds, or treatises and commentaries interpreting those instruments. Several navigational points are essential.
First, the phrase appears in the granting clause, which is the operative heart of a conveyance. When analyzing an ancient deed or charter, locating dedi et concessi (or its English equivalent "given and granted") identifies the precise language by which the transfer was effected. Courts reading historical instruments paid close attention to whether proper granting words were present, because the presence or absence of recognized operative language could determine whether a valid feoffment or grant had been completed.
Second, the distinction between "operative" and "essential" is significant and appears explicitly in the source dictionaries. The formula was the most proper conveyancing language, but not the only language that would suffice. Researchers reading case law or treatises debating the validity of irregular or informal instruments should understand that dedi et concessi set the gold standard without being the exclusive standard. This distinction matters when examining disputes over defective conveyances in historical records.
Third, the phrase appears frequently in Latin charters where the full clause runs: "dedi et concessi et hac presenti carta mea confirmavi" — "I have given and granted and by this my present charter confirmed." Recognizing this extended formula helps researchers parse the structure of medieval conveyancing documents accurately.
Fourth, be alert to the tense. Dedi is perfect tense — "I have given" — not present tense. This grammatical choice was legally deliberate: it framed the conveyance as an accomplished act, not a promise of future transfer. This distinction occasionally surfaces in treatise commentary on the nature of feoffment.
Historical Dictionary Support
The three source dictionaries are in close agreement, and all trace to the same pair of authorities: Blackstone's Commentaries (2 Bl. Comm. 53, 316, 317) and Stephens' Commentaries (1 Steph. Comm. 164, 177, 473, 474). Burrill's entry adds references to Coke on Littleton (Co. Litt. 301b, 384) and Sheppard's Touchstone (Shep. Touch. 232), which are the deeper primary sources for anyone pursuing the doctrine further. Sheppard's Touchstone of Common Assurances in particular provides extensive treatment of granting language in various deed forms and is a valuable resource for researchers working on early modern conveyancing practice.
The dictionaries offer identical core definitions but Burrill's entry, though truncated in the available text, signals that a fuller discussion of the clause's role in the structure of deeds was provided — consistent with Burrill's more expansive treatment of historical Latin terms generally.
No source dictionary addresses how colonial American practice adapted or abandoned this formula, nor how the transition to English-language deeds and eventually to statutory forms of conveyance affected its use. Researchers tracing American land title history into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries should not assume dedi et concessi disappeared uniformly; its survival in particular colonial jurisdictions warrants independent examination of local deed records.
Jurisdictional Note
The formula originates in English law and was carried into colonial American conveyancing practice. Its use was never uniform across colonies, and American jurisdictions moved toward English-language granting clauses and eventually statutory short forms at different rates. Researchers working on land title questions in former civil law jurisdictions — Louisiana, parts of the Southwest — will not encounter dedi et concessi in local instruments, as those traditions derive from Spanish and French conveyancing forms.