ABSTRACT
The transmission of property by will is but one species of gift and the owner of property may determine his or her successors by an inter vivos transfer. A system of protection of a deceased person's family which operates on his estate as at the date of death may be defeated wholly or in part by inter vivos dispositions. A donatio mortis causa differs from a gift inter vivos in that it is not absolute and complete until the death of the donor, but it is not a testamentary disposition because it is a present gift made with the intention that until the death of the donor it is to be revocable. The difficulty posed by the presence of a foreign element in a donatio mortis causa arises from its 'amphibious nature'. If it is characterised as an inter vivos gift then it should be governed by the lex situs.
