alſo expreſſed in the atteſtation; "ſealed and delivered." A deed takes effect only from this tradition or delivery; for, if the date be falſe or impoſſible, the delivery aſcertains the time of it. And if another perſon ſeals the deed, yet if the party delivers it himſelf, he thereby adopts the ſealing[1], and by a parity of reaſon the ſigning alſo, and makes them both his own. A delivery may be either abſolute, that is, to the party or grantee himſelf; or to a third perſon, to hold till ſome conditions be performed on the part of the grantee: in which laſt caſe it is not delivered as a deed, but as an eſcrow; that is, a ſcrowl or writing, which is not to take effect as a deed till the conditions be performed; and then it is a deed to all intents and purpoſes[2].
The laſt requiſite to the validity of a deed is the atteſtation, or execution of it in the preſence of witneſſes: though this is neceſſary, rather for preſerving the evidence, than for conſtituting the eſſence, of the deed. Our modern deeds are in reality nothing more than an improvement or amplification of the brevia teſtata mentioned by the feodal writers[3]; which were written memorandums, introduced to perpetuate the tenor of the conveyance and inveſtiture, when grants by parol only became the foundation of frequent diſpute and uncertainty. To this end they regiſtered in the deed the perſons who attended as witneſſes, which was formerly done without their ſigning their names, (that not being always in their power) but they only heard the deed read; and then the clerk or ſcribe added their names, in a ſort of memorandum; thus; "hijs teſtibus, Johanne Moore, Jacobo Smith, et aliis ad hanc rem convocatis[4]." This, like all other ſolemn tranſactions, was originally done only coram paribus[5], and frequently when aſſembled in the court baron, hundred, or county court; which was then expreſſed in the atteſtation, teſte comitatu, hundredo, &c[6]. Afterwards the atteſtation of other witneſſes was allowed, the trial in
