Black’s Law Dictionary 1st Edition, page 74:
ANNUITY. A yearly sum stipulated to be paid to another in fee, or for life, or years, and chargeable only on the person of the grantor. Co. Litt. 144b.
An annuity is different from a rent-charge, with which it is sometimes confounded, the annuity being chargeable on the person merely, and so far personalty; while a rent-charge is something reserved out of realty, or fixed as a burden upon an estate in land. 2 Bl. Comm. 40; Rolle, Abr. 226; 10 Watts, 127.
The contract of annuity is that by which one party delivers to another a sum of money, and agrees not to reclaim it so long as the receiver pays the rent agreed upon. This annuity may be either perpetual or for life. Civil Code La. arts. 2793, 2794.
The name of an action, now disused, (L. Lat. breve de annuo redditu,) which lay for the receovery of an annuity. REg. Orig. 158b; Bract. fol. 203b; 1 Tidd, Pr. 3.
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