Livery of seisin is an archaic legal
conveyancing ceremony, formerly practiced in
feudal England and in other countries following English
common law, used to
convey holdings in
property. The term "livery" is related to, if not synonymous with, the word "
delivery" as used in modern
contract law. The common law in those jurisdictions once provided that a valid conveyance of a
feudal tenure in land required the physical transfer by the transferor to the transferee, in the presence of
witnesses, of a piece of the ground itself, in the literal sense of a hand-to-hand passing of an amount of soil, a twig, key, or other symbol.