Definition
In legal usage, "done" functions as a term of completion and execution, most commonly appearing in the phrase "made and done" in deeds, instruments, and formal legal documents. It signals that an act has been performed or concluded, as distinguished from the mere making or drafting of a document. Where "made" refers to the creation of an instrument, "done" refers to the performance of an act—carrying the force of factum or actum in the Latin tradition.
The distinction is subtle but historically significant: a deed is "made," but the underlying transaction or act is "done." The phrase "made and done" in a document therefore covers both the execution of the instrument and the completion of the act it records.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Past participle of "do"; used in forming the perfect aspect ("have done") or as a simple past.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Performed; executed; finished." Also common in colloquial idiom: "done for" (destroyed, exhausted), "done brown" (thoroughly deceived).
The common meaning of "done"—finished, completed—is not far from its legal meaning, but the legal context draws a sharper line. In common usage, "done" simply signals completion. In legal instruments, "done" specifically denotes an act performed, as distinguished from a document made or executed. The historical legal phrase "made and done" is not redundant: it intentionally captures both the instrument and the act behind it. A researcher who reads "done" as mere emphasis misses this functional distinction.
Common Confusion
"Done" and "made" are sometimes read as interchangeable synonyms in older instruments, particularly where drafters used the paired phrase "made and done" for ceremonial rather than analytical reasons. They are not synonyms. Lord Brougham's formulation remains the clearest statement of the distinction: "made" applies to instruments; "done" applies to acts. In research contexts, reading "made and done" as a single undifferentiated phrase obscures whether the clause concerns the execution of a document or the performance of an underlying legal act.
Why It Matters in Research
"Done" appears almost exclusively in historical legal materials as part of the formulaic phrase "made and done." Researchers working with early deeds, conveyances, and formal instruments will encounter this pairing frequently and should not treat it as mere verbal flourish. The distinction between act and instrument matters where questions arise about when a legal obligation attached, whether a condition was satisfied, or whether the operative event was the signing of the document or the completion of the transaction it recorded.
In the Law Mind corpus, "done" in legal context is almost never a standalone term of analysis—it surfaces in document attestation clauses, sealing language, and completion formulas. Researchers searching for "done" in isolation will retrieve overwhelming noise from non-technical usage. Searches should be paired with "made," "executed," or the relevant document type to return meaningful results.
The term also appears in civil law tradition as a translation of actum, and in some instruments both the Latin and English appear side by side. Where the underlying document is bilingual or uses Latin phrases, "done" may be the English gloss for factum rather than for an independently analyzed concept.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three historical dictionary sources agree on the core distinction and share the same authority: Lord Brougham's observation in 4 Bell's Appeal Cases, 38, that "a 'deed done' is not an 'instrument done'—it is an 'act done.'" Burrill's entry adds the illustrative note that one does not say "to do a sale" as readily as one says "to make a sale," reinforcing the point that "done" attaches to acts while "make" attaches to instruments and transactions.
None of the historical sources provide an independent affirmative definition of "done"—all three define it entirely by contrast with "made." This is notable: the term is treated as self-evident in meaning but requiring clarification only in relation to its paired term. Researchers relying solely on these sources will find definitional guidance but no discussion of how courts applied the distinction in practice.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Deeds — Execution and Formalities