Definition
A formulaic phrase historically used in conveyancing instruments — deeds, leases, and under-leases — to pass all rights of way associated with the property being conveyed, whether those ways were formally recognized appurtenances or merely incidental access rights connected to the land in any capacity. The phrase functions as a catch-all clause, designed to ensure that rights of way attached to or used with the land transferred along with the freehold or leasehold interest without requiring each individual way to be specifically identified and described.
As a term of conveyancing art, it operates in close company with broader appurtenance clauses ("together with all and singular the appurtenances thereunto belonging or in anywise appertaining") but focuses specifically on ways — paths, roads, passages, and rights of access — rather than the full universe of appurtenant rights. The phrase signals drafting intent: the grantor means to convey not only the land itself but every right of passage that could be said to belong to it, whether by prior grant, long use, necessity, or other legal basis.
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Common Confusion
This phrase is sometimes treated as interchangeable with "all appurtenances thereunto belonging," but the two are not identical in scope. A general appurtenance clause reaches all appurtenant rights — including easements of light, drainage, support, and others. The ways-specific formulation narrows focus to rights of passage. In historical pleading and conveyancing, this distinction could affect whether a party claiming under the conveyance could establish that a particular non-way easement passed with the grant. Researchers should also note variant forms: "ways thereunto appertaining," "ways thereto belonging," and "ways thereunto belonging or in anywise appertaining" appear across sources and may or may not be treated as legally equivalent in the jurisdiction and period under study.
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Why It Matters in Research
This is a term of historical conveyancing formula, not a term in active modern drafting use. Researchers encountering it will almost always be working with older deeds, leases, or under-leases, or with litigation arising from the interpretation of such instruments.
Several research traps warrant attention:
First, the phrase is part of a family of boilerplate appurtenance language that varied considerably across jurisdictions, time periods, and individual draftsmen. The word "anywise" — meaning "in any way or manner" — was standard legal intensifying language in English conveyancing, but its presence or absence, or its substitution with "otherwise," could become a point of dispute in construction cases.
Second, Rapalje & Lawrence's treatment connects this phrase directly to English case law (Barnwell & Cresswell, Crompton & Meeson), signaling that the operative meaning in American practice derived substantially from English conveyancing tradition. American courts interpreting these clauses in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries frequently looked to English precedent for guidance on what ways "pass" under general appurtenance language versus what requires express grant.
Third, for corpus researchers: this phrase will appear embedded within longer deed or lease forms and is unlikely to appear as a standalone defined term. Search strategies should account for variant spellings ("thereunto" vs. "thereto," "appertaining" vs. "belonging") and the possibility that only fragments of the clause appear in case reports when courts quote the relevant instrument language.
Fourth, in the context of under-leases specifically — which is where Rapalje & Lawrence situate the "all ways thereunto appertaining" formulation — the question of what ways passed could affect the sub-tenant's right of access independent of the head lease. This is a distinct interpretive context from freehold conveyancing and should be researched accordingly.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Rapalje & Lawrence treat the phrase in two related entries, one addressing "appertaining" in a conveyance generally (citing 1 Crompton & Meeson 439) and one addressing "all ways thereunto appertaining" in the specific context of an under-lease (citing 2 Barnwell & Cresswell 96, 100). This pairing is instructive: the dictionary signals that the phrase had distinct legal valence in sub-leasehold contexts and that courts had occasion to construe it in reported decisions.
The entries are sparse — consistent with the reference style of Rapalje & Lawrence — and do not synthesize the doctrine. They function as citation-pointers rather than analytical guides. Researchers should treat the dictionary's treatment as a starting point directing them to the English case law, not as an authoritative statement of the rule.
No other historical dictionaries in the Law Mind corpus specifically address this phrase as a defined term. Bouvier and Black treat appurtenances and appurtenant easements generally, and the general appurtenance entries in those sources provide useful context for understanding how courts approached the scope of catch-all conveying language, even when the specific phrase "ways thereto belonging or in anywise" is not quoted.
What historical sources collectively miss is any systematic account of how American jurisdictions adapted or departed from the English doctrine. The phrase carried English common law freight; American courts and legislatures sometimes modified its operation through recording acts, statutory deed forms, and local rules about implied easements.
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Jurisdictional Note
English conveyancing practice is the primary source for this phrase's meaning and construction. American jurisdictions generally followed English precedent on appurtenance clause interpretation through the nineteenth century, but statutory deed forms in many states simplified or replaced traditional formula language. Researchers working with instruments from any particular American state should verify whether local statutory forms or case law displaced the common law rule on what passes under general way-appurtenance clauses.
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