A newsletter from West providing Westlaw® search tips for corporate counsel and staff

The real property deed is not just another public record. It is conclusive evidence of the boundaries and quantity of land conveyed and of the intent of the parties. C.J.S. Evidence § 1176. The deed is indispensable for resolving ownership issues in a number of practice areas, including real property, leasing, construction, family, estate, and bankruptcy law.

Moreover, the deed contains a full legal description of the property—not the abstracted legal description you might find in other documents. Hence the rapidly growing collection of PDF deed images on Westlaw.

On Westlaw, you can now retrieve deed images from 403 counties, including 69 counties added in the last two months. Among them: populous counties in the Austin, Boston, Cincinnati, Pensacola, Toledo, and Washington, D.C. areas.

If you are viewing a real property tax assessor, real property transaction, or real property pre-foreclosure record, click Deed Image on the Links tab to display the deed image (if available).