How did "dispose" semantically shift from meaning "put apart" 🡺 to "transfer title to property"?

What semantic notions underlie "put apart" 🡺 "a transfer of title to property"?

This semantic shift addles me. Why? Because "put apart" feels casual and laid-back! In modern English, "put apart" refers to personal tangible goods.

But "a transfer of title to property" is legalistic! No native English speaker would say that they "put apart" their real property!

Definitions from law textbooks published in England and Wales.

DISPOSITION [=] a transfer of title to property.

Warren Barr, Pearce & Stevens' Trusts and Equitable Obligations (7 edn, 2018, OUP), page 543.

A disposition [emboldening mine] of an interest in land is the generic term given to all transfers, creations, disposals, etc. of such rights. It is defined in the Law of Property Act 1925, section 205(1)(ii):

‘“disposition” includes a conveyance and also a devise, bequest, or an appointment of property contained in a will’.

The next step, therefore, is to understand what a conveyance is.

It too is defined in section 205(1)(ii): ‘“Conveyance” includes a mortgage, charge, lease, assent, vesting declaration, vesting instrument, disclaimer, release and every other assurance of property or of an interest therein by any instrument, except a will’.

Taken together, these statutory provisions mean that a contract for the disposition of an interest in land is a contract which, amongst other things, creates a mortgage, charge, or lease or relates to the transfer of the freehold interest. Indeed, it covers all ‘assurances’ of property or of an interest in property. Assurance is not defined in the Act, but it has been interpreted very widely. However, as Megarry and Wade (the leading practitioners’ text) highlights, the most important thing is that the rule applies to ‘a contract to make [emphasis in the original] a disposition, it does not apply to the disposition itself’.⁸ This is a critical point. Understanding the distinction between a contract to dispose of an interest, and the actual carrying out of those promises, are two different stages in the conveyancing process. In layman’s terms, this is the distinction between the ‘exchange’ stage and the ‘completion’ stage in a house sale process.

⁸ C Harpum et al, Megarry and Wade: The Law of Real Property (8th edition) (London, Sweet and Maxwell, 2012).

Emma Lees, The Principles of Land Law (1 edn, 2020, OUP), page 89.

My research on the etymology

dispose (v.) [on Etymonline]

late 14c., disposen, "set in order, place in a particular order; give direction or tendency to; incline the mind or heart of,"
from Old French disposer (13c.) "arrange, order, control, regulate" (influenced in form by poser "to place"),
from Latin disponere "put in order, arrange, distribute,"
from dis- "apart" (see dis-)
+ ponere "to put, place" (past participle positus; see position (n.)).

Ben Kovitz mooted the etymology of "disposition", but not this legal meaning of 'dispose'. I seek an answer that expatiates this legal meaning.

I think it helps to know the etymology, both for understanding the many senses of "dispose" and for many other words that contain the same two roots: dis- and pose. "Dis-" (in "dispose") is a Latin root meaning to break apart and spread out, as in disperse, disseminate, dissolve. "Pose" is a Latin root meaning to put something in a certain place or state, as in position, opposite, repose.

Knowing that, you might be able to figure out that a disposition can mean both an inclination toward doing something and the result of doing something—"where" things ultimately got put. The latter sense is rare, but an example is that in computers, a task is sometimes said to have a "disposition" of succeeded/failed/aborted.

posted over 2 years ago

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