ABSTRACT
Re Craven’s Estate (No 1) [1937] Ch 423, HC Farwell J: l have considered what the reason for imposing as a condition of a valid donatio that the donor must part with dominion over the subject matter thereof and the answer seems to me to be that the subject matter of the donatio must be some definite property, and, to ensure that, the donor must put it out of his power between the date of the donation and the date of the death to alter the subject matter of the gift and substitute other chattels of the gift remained in the dominion of the donor, the donor might at any time between the donatio and the gift deal with it as he or she pleased. Take for instance the case of a box. The donor says to the donee: ‘This box contains certain valuables which are to be yours in the event of my death from the operation which I am going to undergo in a few days, but I propose to retain the box and the key of the box.’ If that was the position it would be open to the donor at any time to take out of the box whatever was in it replacing it with other valuables, and in my view it is in order that that should parted with dominion so that whatever the original subject matter of the donatio was it should remain the subject matter in the event of the death of the donor. In the case of the box it is not necessary to hand over the box if the key is handed over because it is assumed that the key which unlocks the box being in the possession of the donee the donor cannot have access to the contents so as to deal with them in any way.
