Generally, a quitclaim is a formal renunciation of a legal claim against some other person, or of a right to land. A person who quitclaims renounces or relinquishes a claim to some legal right, or transfers a legal interest in land. Originally a common law concept dating back to Medieval England, the expression is in modern times mostly restricted to North American law, where it often refers specifically to a transfer of ownership or some other interest in real property. Commonly, quitclaims are used in situations where a grantor transfers any interest they have in property to a recipient (the grantee) but without offering any guarantee as to the extent of that interest. There may even be no guarantee that the grantor owns the property or has any legal interest in it whatsoever. Specific situations where a precise definition of the grantor's interest (if any) may be unnecessary include property transferred as a gift, to a family member, or into a business entity. The legal instrument by which the transfer is effected may be known as a quitclaim deed or quitclaim agreement. Details of the instrument itself, and the typical circumstances of use, vary by U.S. state. History The common law concept of quitclaim dates back to medieval England. Its purpose was to provide a straightforward way for a tenant or other person in actual possession of some land to acquire additional rights in it from some other person. For example, a tenant in possession might acquire a fee simple in the land from a superior landowner such as a freeholder. In such a case, the use of quitclaim circumvented the multistep process of the tenant having to formally give up possession to the original freeholder, merely in order to be re-granted possession by feoffment as freeholder in his or her own right. Quitclaim may originally have been an oral transaction, but by the thirteenth century a formal sealed document or court record had become necessary. A famous early example is the Quitclaim of Canterbury of 1189, by which Richard the Lionheart reversed the Treaty of Falaise, transferring his claims on Scotland to William the Lion. In United States law In most arms-length real property transactions, such as a house sale, it is normal for the seller or grantor to warrant that they actually own the property or the interest in it that they are purporting to transfer. But a