Comparative law notes
Since a deed is a written legal instrument that passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions, sealed and since a deed has a greater presumption of validity and is less rebuttable than an instrument signed by the party to the deed (i.e., has greater probative and evidentiary value), it matches up functionally very close to the Urkunde and would therefore be our preferred translation. The only downside to using "deed" as a translation for Urkunde is that for many laymen and even some lawyers with a diminished understanding of common law history, the word "deed" is a strictly a real property term. Thus, the use of the word "deed' in the context of sale of a German company, for example, may cause a a bit of confusion.
