properly signifies undressing, or stripping off one's garment; in contradiction from investing.

In law, it is used for the act of surrendering or relinquishing one's effects. By a contract of donation or sale, the donor or seller is said to be disaffected and divested of their property in such a commodity, and the donee or purchaser becomes invested therewith. See INVESTITURE.

A demise is a general divestiture which the fathers and mothers make of all their effects in favour of their children.