Definition
To formally relinquish, release, or give back a claim, right, or interest in property. In conveyancing, remise is a term of art used in deeds of release and quitclaim, by which a grantor surrenders whatever interest they hold in real property without warranting title or making any affirmative representation about the scope of that interest. The grantor remises — that is, yields up — whatever they have, nothing more and nothing less.
The term appears almost exclusively in the fixed phrase "remise, release, and forever quitclaim," a triplet formula traditionally used in quitclaim deeds. Each word in the triplet carries historical weight as a term of release, though together they operate as a single operative conveyance. A deed using this language passes the grantor's interest, whatever it may be, to the grantee.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To send or give back; to surrender all interest in a property by executing a deed, to quitclaim.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To send, give, or grant back; to release a claim to; to resign or surrender by deed; to return.
The common and legal meanings are unusually close here — both describe a giving-back or relinquishment. The legal distinction worth noting is that remise in a deed context is not merely a description of intent but a term of operative conveyance with defined legal effect. Saying one "remises" in a deed is not informal language; it is a word that courts have recognized as sufficient to pass title when combined with the other elements of a valid quitclaim deed.
Common Confusion
Remise is sometimes treated as redundant with release and quitclaim when the three appear together in the standard triplet. Historically, each term carried a distinct legal lineage — remise drawing from Norman French usage, release from common law property doctrine, quitclaim from Chancery practice — but in modern conveyancing they are treated as reinforcing synonyms. Researchers should not assume that a deed using only one of the three words is necessarily defective; courts have generally held that any one of them, with proper intent and consideration, can operate as an effective conveyance.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working with historical deed records — particularly pre-twentieth century land instruments — will encounter remise as a standard operative word in quitclaim and release deeds. Its presence signals: (1) the instrument is almost certainly a quitclaim form, not a warranty deed; (2) the grantor made no representations about title quality; and (3) any chain-of-title analysis must account for the possibility that the grantor held nothing to convey.
The phrase "remise, release, and forever quitclaim" is diagnostic. When you see it in a historical deed, you are looking at a quitclaim instrument, which has distinct implications for title searches. A warranty deed's covenants run with the land and may support quiet title actions; a deed that only remises does not.
One navigational trap: Burrill notes that when a deed to a person not in possession recites an intent to convey the grantor's estate and shows a pecuniary consideration, "remise, release, and quitclaim" can be effective as words of bargain and sale — meaning even a quitclaim form may have operated as a full conveyance in certain historical contexts depending on surrounding circumstances. Researchers parsing early American deed records should not assume quitclaim language always meant a thin or doubtful conveyance.
The term appears rarely in modern drafting outside of the traditional quitclaim triplet. If you encounter it in isolation in a contemporary instrument, treat it as an anomaly warranting closer scrutiny.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical sources are in close agreement. Black's (both editions), Burrill, and Rapalje & Lawrence all define remise as a word of release and surrender in deeds, and all identify its natural home as the quitclaim triplet. Burrill adds the most texture, noting both its Norman French lineage ("Remys. L. Fr. Remised; released") and the important functional point that the language can carry the force of a bargain and sale deed when intent and consideration are clear.
Anderson's entry is minimal — directing the reader simply to "release" — which suggests he treated remise as derivative rather than independently significant. That approach reflects a later editorial judgment that the term had no independent operational life outside the triplet formula. Black's second edition adds a Latin maxim on remedies that appears to be a printing artifact adjacent to the remise entry, not substantively related to the definition.
None of the historical dictionaries address the question of whether a modern quitclaim deed using only the word "quitclaim" — without "remise" and "release" — is equally effective. That question has been resolved by statute in most jurisdictions.
Jurisdictional Note
Most U.S. jurisdictions have enacted quitclaim deed statutes that provide a statutory short form, making the traditional triplet unnecessary. In those jurisdictions, "remise" retains significance primarily in historical instruments rather than current drafting. In states still recognizing common law conveyancing forms without a modernizing statute, the traditional language may carry more weight.