Also known as: sasines · seisin
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The feudal delivery of possession of land by which an estate was created or transferred without a writing until the Statute of Frauds. Livery of seisin required physical acts symbolizing transfer of the land interest.
Simone Sanders conveyed land to Sterling Manufacturing by general warranty deed containing the covenant of seisin. After closing Sterling discovered a prior recorded easement that impaired title. Sterling sued Sanders for breach of the covenant of seisin and recovered damages measured by the cost to clear the encumbrance.
Stella Shapiro hunted a fox on open land and was about to seize it when Simon Stern killed and carried it away. Shapiro sued Stern claiming her pursuit gave her sasine-like possession. The court held that pursuit alone did not establish the required possession for a property claim.
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Sabrina Shah and Sophia Singh held land as joint tenants. Shah executed a deed purporting to convey her interest to herself as tenant in common. Singh challenged the deed claiming it failed to transfer sasine properly. The court upheld the severance because the deed effectively transferred the interest.
The state legislature granted land to Sterling Dynamics by statute. A later legislature repealed the grant and claimed the original conveyance lacked proper sasine transfer. Fletcher sued to quiet title asserting the initial grant conveyed valid sasine that could not be revoked.
The United States conducted frequent low flights over Skylar Sullivan's chicken farm rendering the land unusable. Sullivan claimed the flights constituted a taking of sasine in the airspace above the property. The Court held that the interference with use established a compensable taking of the land interest.
Martin claimed land under a grant from Lord Fairfax while Hunter's Lessee asserted title under a later state conveyance. The dispute turned on whether the original grant transferred valid sasine that survived the change in sovereignty. The Court held that the federal treaty confirmed the earlier sasine and superior title.
The covenant of seisin promises that the grantor holds good title and the right to convey the property at the time of the deed. It is breached if any outstanding claim or encumbrance exists at conveyance. The covenant runs with the land and supports later claims by the grantee.
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A special warranty deed warrants title only against claims arising by through or under the grantor. A general warranty deed includes the covenant of seisin and other title covenants that protect against all defects regardless of when they arose.
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No. The covenant of seisin provides absolute assurance against encumbrances existing at conveyance. Constructive notice from recording does not relieve the grantor of liability under the covenant in a general warranty deed.
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…present, through waste and unoccupied lands, which must inevitably and speedily have terminated in corporal possession or bodily seisin, confers such a right to the object of it as to make any one a wrongdoer who shall interfere and shoulder the spoil. The justice's judgment ought, therefore, in my opinion, to be affirmed.