Chapter the twentieth.
Of ALIENATION by DEED.
IN treating of deeds I ſhall conſider, firſt, their general nature; and, next, the ſeveral ſorts or kinds of deeds, with their reſpective incidents. And in explaining the former, I ſhall examine, firſt, what a deed is; ſecondly, it's requiſites; and, thirdly, how it may be avoided.
I. First then, a deed is a writing ſealed and delivered by the parties[1]. It is ſometimes called a charter, carta, from it's materials; but moſt uſually, when applied to the tranſactions of private ſubjects, it is called a deed, in Latin factum, κατ' εξοχην, becauſe it is the moſt ſolemn and authentic act that a man can poſſibly perform, with relation to the diſpoſal of his property; and therefore a man ſhall always be eſtopped by his own deed, or not permitted to aver or prove any thing in contradiction to what he has once ſo ſolemnly and deliberately avowed[2]. If a deed be made by more parties than one, there ought to be regularly as many copies of it as there are parties, and each ſhould be cut or indented (formerly in acute angles inſtar dentium, but at preſent in a waving line) on the top or ſide, to tally or correſpond with the other; which deed, ſo made, is called an indenture. Formerly, when deeds were more conciſe than at preſent, it was uſual to write both parts on the ſame piece of parchment, with ſome word or letters of the alphabet written between them; through which the parchment was cut, either in a ſtrait or indented line, in ſuch
