quitclaim - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Middle English quiteclaymen, from Anglo-Norman quiteclamer, from clamer quite (“to claim quit”). Compare claim quit.

quitclaim (third-person singular simple present quitclaims, present participle quitclaiming, simple past and past participle quitclaimed)

  1. (transitive, law) To relinquish or release (a claim, title, etc.); to transfer (an interest in property). [from 14th c.]
    • 1991, JD Gordon, "How Not to Succeed in Law School", Yale Law Journal, April
      I hereby give, grant, bargain, sell, release, convey, transfer, and quitclaim all my right, title, interest, benefit, and use whatever in, of, and concerning this chattel, otherwise known as an orange, or citrus orantium, together with all the appurtenances thereto of skin, pulp, pip, rind, seeds, and juice for his own use and behoof, to himself and his heirs in fee simple forever, free from all liens, encumbrances, easements, limitations, restraints, or conditions whatsoever, any and all prior deeds, transfers or other documents whatsoever.
    • 2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 86:
      It introduced a bill into the legislature that allowed the king to quitclaim all of Ruth's lands in return for Spreckels gaining title to 24,000 crucial acres at Wailuku, near Spreckelsville.

quitclaim (plural quitclaims)

  1. A renunciation of claims.
  2. (law) A deed that is a renunciation of claims to a parcel of real property and a transfer of one's claims to another.