CONVEYANCING

"Convincing" is an art of drafting deeds and documents whereby any right, title or interest in an immovable property is transferred from one person to another. Such persons may be natural or artificial i.e. Corporate, the company, the society or the corporate sole as the case may be. Conveyancing is based on law and legal principles which have been evolved in the sphere of Conveyancing over years or rather Centuries. 

The objective of Conveyancing cannot be possible without a thorough knowledge an understanding of the legal provisions applicable on the subject matter of transfer of property· or right therein. In the present world, the scope of Conveyancing has become very wide and extensive in use and advantage to different fields of business, profession and industries, Drafting document is now a legal task and not merely a technical one. Different types of deeds require knowledge of different types of law on which those deeds are based. 

To draft a trust deed, the law of the country regarding creation of trusts is very much essential to be known. In the ancient times in England the deed writing was optional and continued to remain optional until the time of King Charles II, particularly the cases in which the deed was required not to be under seal. Writing was required only in the matter of great importance. 

It was only during the reign of king Charles II that the British parliament enacted in 1677 a legislation requiring writing for creation and transfer of interest in landed property with an exception in case of lease for less than three years. The Real Property Act. of 1845 required all grants of landed interest to be made by writing which became known as "Conveyancing" the pr8$entform of Conveyancing is based on the Conveyance of land Act of 1845 and the Iaw of property Act 1925. (1) In India the forms of Conveyancing are based on the present English forms. No. legislation in India has ever been passed on the law of Conveyancing. 

Conveyancing in India is not unknown as the words, "Qabuliyatnama", "Jagirdar", "Muafidar" and "charpatra". etc are accruing from ancient days in the India literatures. Thus, as in England and so in India, too, there are two types of deeds - "Deed poll" and "indenture". Charpatra (Redemption of rent), Jagir grants, Qabuliyats, etc. were all of the nature of Deed polls. The deed poll is a document which is executed unilaterally in the first person while on indenture is a bilateral or multilateral deed. Bonds, power of attorney and wills are "deed polls", Mortgages, sales gifts, and lease is bilateral document and so they are "Indenture".

Principal of drafting of drafting of document may be classify into 4 parts-

(1) clarity of expression –

(2) Design of the draft –

(3) Precision of language –

(4) Communicability of the intention of the parties to the document.

 

(i) Clarity of Expression -

It is the first principle of drafting of Conveyance or document that what ever is being scribed, it must be clear in its expression. It should. be unambiguous, that is, it must not have two meaning of any expression used in drafting. The sentences for the purpose should be short and easily understandable, should not have compound and compels sentences, so that the reader or the person using the document should not have any difficulty in understanding the meaning of the sentence which is being scribed. The words used should not be technical or in a foreign language. Which the parties do not understand at all. Everyday language of the place or state should be used in the drafts being prepared.

 

(ii) Design of the draft –

The design of the drafts should be in conformity with law. But however it should not be too technical which may entangle the parties in the technical design of the document itself and the real intention of the document may be kept behind that technical draft concealed under it. As a matter of fact the parts or parcels of a document are not prescribed by any law. These are simply the production of document expects for the sake of convenience to learn the art but it is not the end of goal of the art it self. 

It is merely for the practice of the art of Conveyancing so that the draftsman may express the statement of the document serially and chronologically and rather systematically the design is simply to be followed so that nothing material or relevant may be left or omitted and nothing unnecessary may be included in the document, which is quite irrelevant for the purpose. A well-drafted deed is that which is strictly logical step by step and has nothing emotional or imaginary or unsystematic.

 

(iii) Precision of language –

The language of the document must be precise, the words used for a particular meaning should be used. If the words used in the draft do not convey the exact meaning, then the draftsmen should not hesitate to explain the same. The deed must be intelligible to laymen even. 

It should no be made a classic to be understood only by the advocated or traditional draftsmen. It should not become a subject of interpretation in order to come to a conclusion what does the expression or the language means to convey. A draftsman should keep· in mind the following rules:

i.             Familiar words of every day common language should be preferred over too technical words.

ii.            Concrete words should be preferred over the abstract words or words of the imaginary world.

iii.           Short words should be preferred to the long or compound words.

iv.          Simple Sentences should be preferred to compound or complex sentences, and

v.            Active voice of grammar should be preferred to the passive voice.

vi.          Communicability of the intention of the parties to the document.

 

The only purpose of scribing a deed is to communicate the intention of the parties to the other parties to the document and the public at large who may come in contact with the document or the property which is the subject matter of that document the real intention of the parties to the deed should be very honestly expressed and communicated by such document.

The intention aforesaid should e so expressed, as it may make it easily to be understood and be made operative by way of the deed. The principle of communication of the intention of parties to the deed should be well respected and followed by a draftsman.