Deed

A deed is the instrument by which an interest in real property transfers: grantor, grantee, property description, stated consideration, execution, and — to take its place in the public chain of title — recording. Its species matter: the bargain-and-sale forms common in New York practice convey with limited covenants, a quitclaim conveys whatever the grantor had while promising nothing, and a referee's deed executes a court-ordered sale.

Analytically, a deed evidences a conveyance without adjudicating it: recording fixes priority and gives notice, not validity. And its stated consideration is the source of every 'sold for' figure in property data — a number that means market price only when the transfer was arm's-length and whole, which the surrounding facts must establish.