deed, n. 1. Something that is done or carried out; an act or action. 2. A written instrument by which land is conveyed. 3. At common law, any written instrument that is signed, sealed, and delivered and that conveys some interest in property. -- Also termed (in senses 2 & 3) evidence of title.

"A deed is a writing sealed and delivered. For if either a parchment without writing be delivered as one's deed, yet it is not his deed, though an obligation be afterwards written in it: or if it be a writing but not sealed at the time of the delivery of it as his deed, it is a scrole and not his deed. Or if I make and seal a deed, and the party take it without my delivery, I may plead it is not my deed." Sir Henry Finch, Law, or a Discourse Thereof 108 (1759). "What then is a deed? Unfortunately the word is not free from ambiguity. In the original and technical sense a deed is a written instrument under the seal of the party executing it. Because, however, of the wide use of such instruments in the conveyance of real estate, it has come to mean in popular acceptance any formal conveyance for the transfer of land or of an interest therein. The dual use of the term has crept into the language of courts and law writers, so that in the reading of cases it is difficult to determine whether the word is used in the first and original sense, or whether it connotes a formal instrument of the type ordinarily employed for the conveyance of land." Ray Andrews Brown, The Law of Personal Property § 46, at 118-19 (2d ed. 1955). "All deeds are documents, but not all documents are deeds. For instance, a legend chalked on a brick wall, or a writing tattooed on a sailor's back may be documents but they are not deeds. A deed is, therefore, a particular kind of document. It must be a writing and a writing on paper or its like, e.g., vellum or parchment. Any instrument under seal is a deed if made between private persons. It must be signed, sealed, and delivered. A deed must either (a) effect the transference of an interest, right or property, or (b) create an obligation binding on some person or persons, or (c) confirm some act whereby an interest, right, or property has already passed." Gerald Dworkin, Odgers' Construction of Deeds and Statutes 1 (5th ed. 1967).