from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
TO INVEST, contracts. To lay out money in such a manner that it may bring a
revenue; as, to invest money in houses or stocks; to give possession.
2. This word, which occurs frequently in the canon law, comes from the
Latin word investire, which signifies to clothe or adorn and is used, in
that system of jurisprudence, synonymously with enfeoff. Both words signify
to put one into the possession of, or to invest with a fief, upon his taking
the oath of fealty or fidelity to the prince or superior lord.