It must be delivered to and accepted by the recipient. Conditions attached to the acceptance of a deed are known as covenants.
In the United States of America, a pardon of the President was at one time considered to be a deed and thus needed to be accepted by the recipient. This made it impossible to grant a pardon posthumously. However, in the case of Henry Ossian Flipper, this view was altered when President Bill Clinton pardoned him in 1999.
In some jurisdictions, a deed of trust is used as an equivalent to a mortgage.
In some jurisdictions (especially New Zealand) a deed of endowment is used as an equivalent to a Royal Charter, often used to establish educational or medical institutions. One such example is when the Governor of New Zealand, Sir George Grey, established the Auckland and Wellington Grammar Schoolss in 1850.
In the transfer of real estate, a grant deed conveys ownership from the old owner to the new owner, and includes a warranty that the old owner's claim to the property was valid. With a quitclaim deed the old owner forsakes his or her claim of ownership in favor of the new owner, but it does not contain any warranty that the old owner's claim was actually valid. While a grant deed is normally used for all real estate sales and transfers, quitclaim deeds are sometimes used for transfers between family members, gifts, and other special or unusual circumstances.
