Donatio Mortis Causa

The donatio mortis causa was a gift made by a donor at a time and under the circumstances when he anticipated his own death.^[1179] It was assumed that in normal circumstances the donor would have preferred to keep the relevant object for himself, but his belief of imminent death prompted the donation so that the donee, rather than his own heir, should receive it.^[1180]

A distinction was made between three types of donatio mortis causa: the first pertained to the case where the donor was not in any danger of dying imminently, but simply foresaw dying at some future time; the second form of donation was that made by a person who expected to die very shortly and who declared that the donation should immediately become the property of the donee; the third type of donation mortis causa came to the fore when the donor was facing imminent death, but the donation was made subject to the condition that the relevant property should pass to the donee only after the donor's death.^[1181] A donatio mortis causa failed to take effect if the donor did not die or if he survived the donee, or if he revoked the donation before his death.^[1182]

By the time of Justinian, the donatio mortis causa was largely assimilated to legacy and many of the rules pertaining to the latter were also applicable to the former.

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