Transfer

The act by which the owner of a thing delivers it to another person, with the intent of passing the rights which he has in it to the latter.

It is a rule founded on the plainest dictates of common sense, adopted in all systems of law, that no one can transfer a right to another which he has not himself: nemo plus juris ad alienum transfers potest quam ipse habet.

To transfer means to change; for example, one may transfer a legacy, either, 1st. By the change of the person of the legatee, as, I bequeath to Primus a horse wliich I before bequeathed to Secundus. 2d. By the change of the thing bequeathed, as, I bequeath to Tertius my History of the United States instead of my copy of the Life of Washington. 3d. By the change of the person who was bound to pay the legacy, as, I direct that the sun) of one bundred dollars, which I directed should be charged upon my house which I gave to Quartus, shall be paid by my executors.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.