Also known as: instruments of conveyance · conveyance instrument
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A formal written document by which an interest in land is transferred from one party to another. The document must satisfy applicable formal requirements such as writing, subscription, and delivery to effect the transfer.
Isla Ireland executed a deed conveying a hilltop parcel in State W to Ivy Investments. The deed contained an explicit clause designating State V rules of construction for all interpretive questions. When a neighboring owner challenged whether the metes-and-bounds description created an access easement, the court applied State V's permissive approach to latent ambiguities because the instrument itself selected that state's rules.
Iris Irons claimed rights under an alleged pre-1979 oral agreement expanding a music license to merchandise. The court held that no valid transfer occurred because both the 1909 and 1976 Copyright Acts required an instrument of conveyance or signed memorandum to effect the assignment of exclusive rights.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Yes. An implied easement is created as part of a valid conveyance of an interest in land, so the underlying instrument must meet the same formal requisites that local law imposes for that estate, such as proper writing, execution, and delivery.
Supporting sources
The rules of the state designated in the instrument control. The designation in the deed itself supplies the governing standards for resolving questions of meaning, including whether ambiguous language creates an easement.
Supporting sources
Yes. A will is a formal dispositive instrument that can expressly grant an easement, including an easement in gross, when the language identifies the holder, the burdened land, and the scope and duration of the right.
Supporting sources
…time is of the essence and specific information concerning the legal description of property to be conveyed is not available. Instruments of conveyance containing a description of the real estate conveyed in the form of a "Mother Hubbard" clause have been upheld in Kansas for many years as between the parties to the instrument. ( In re…