Gift - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition gift

Definition :

Gift. The old text-writers made a gift (donatio) a distinct species of deed, and describe it as a conveyance applicable to the creation of an estate-tail; while a feoffment they strictly confine to the creation of a fee simple estate. The operative verb was 'give,' which no longer implies any covenant in law (Real Property Act, 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 106), s. 4), replaced by the Law of Property Act, 1925, s. 59(2), and the deed required livery of seisin. It is obsolete. See Jac. Law Dict.

A gift is now understood to mean a mere voluntary assurance or transfer of property without any consideration being given for it. Such a transaction is apt to be very jealously scrutinized in a Court of Equity, and will be set aside on proof of undue influence (see that title), or of a fiduciary relationship of the donee to the donor, see Huguenin v. Baseley, (1806-8) 14 Ves 273; W. & T. L.C.; Morley v. Loughman, (1893) 1 Ch 736 (757); Lyon v. Home, (1868) LR 6 Eq 655. In the absence of any such objection, however, a gift if completed is good both at law and in equity, but the Court will do nothing to perfect the gift if the donor has left it incomplete: see Ellison v. Ellison, (1802) 6 Ves 656; 1 W & TLC.

A gift of chattels without delivery is ineffectual to pass any property unless the gift be by deed, see Irons v. Smallpiece, (1819) 2 B & Ald 551, approved by the Court of Appeal in Cochrane v. Moore, (1890) 25 QBD 57.

Also the name given to the right of presentation to a church living which is said to be 'in the gift' of the person enjoying the right.

A gift within three years of the death of the donor is subject to estate duty on his death. See FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCES AND VOLUNTARY CONVEYANCES; ESTATE DUTY.

By (English) L.P. Act, 1925, s. 175, specific gifts, whether contingent or future, by will coming into operation after 1925, carry the intermediate income; see also (English) Trustee Act, 1925, s. 3; and (English) A.E. Act, 1925, ss. 41 and 42.

BLACK'S Law DICTIONARY (Fourth Edition) defines gift thus: A voluntary transfer of personal property without consideration. A parting by owner with property without pecuniary consideration. A voluntary conveyance of land, or transfer of goods, from one person to another, made gratuitously, and to upon any consideration of blood or money. A similar definition has been given in WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY (Unabridged) where the author defines gift thus: Something that is voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation; a voluntary transfer of real or personal property without any consideration or without a valuable consideration - distinguished from sale. Volume 18 of WORDS AND PHRASES (Permanent Edition) defines gift thus: A 'gift' is a voluntary transfer of property without compensation or any consideration. A 'gift' means a voluntary transfer of property from one person to another without consideration or compensation. In HALSBURY'S LAWS OF ENGLAND (Third Edition, Volume 18) while detailing the nature and kinds of gift, the following statement is made: A gift inter vivos (a) may be defined shortly as the transfer of any property from one person to another gratuitously. Gifts then, or grants, which are the eighth method of transferring personal property, are thus to be distinguished from each other, that gifts re always gratuitous, grants are upon some consideration or equivalent. Thus, according to Lord Halsbury's statement the essential distinction between a gift and a grant is that whereas a gift is absolutely gratuitous, grant is based on some consideration or equivalent. Similarly in Volume 38 of CORPUS JURIS SECUNDUM, it has been clearly stated that a gift is a transfer without consideration and in this connections while defining the nature and character of a gift the author states as follows: A gift is commonly defined as a voluntary transfer of property by one to another, without any consideration or compensation therefor. Any piece of property which is voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation or consideration. A gift it as gratuity and an act of generosity, and not only does not require a consideration but there can be none if there is a consideration for the transaction it is not a gift. It is, therefore, clear from the statement made in this book that the concept of gift is diametrically opposed to the presence of any consideration or compensation. A gift has aptly been described as a gratuity and an act of generosity and stress has been laid on the fact that if there is any consideration then the transaction ceases to be a gift, Sonia Bhatia v. State of U.P., AIR 1981 SC 1274 (1280): (1981) 2 SCC 585: (1981) 3 SCR 239. [Transfer of Property Act (14 of 1882), s. 122]

Gift is the transfer of certain existing movable or immovable property made voluntarily and without consideration, by one person, called the donor, to another, called the donee, and accepted by or on behalf of the donee. [Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (4 of 1882), s. 122]

S. 122 of the Transfer of Property Act defines 'gifts' as follows,--'Gift' is the transfer of certain existing movable or immovable property made voluntarily and without consideration, by one person, called the donor, to another, called the donee, and accepted by or on behalf of the donee. It is therefore one of the essential requirements of a gift that it should be made by the donor 'without consideration'. The word 'consideration' has not been defined in the Transfer of Property Act, but we have no doubt that it has been used in that Act in the same sense as in the Indian Contract Act and excludes natural love and affection, Shakuntala v. State of Haryana, AIR 1979 SC 843 (844): (1979) 3 SCC 226. (Transfer of Property Act, 1882, s. 122)

Gift, means the transfer by one person to another of any existing movable or immovable property made voluntarily and without consideration in money or money's worth, and includes the transfer or conversion of any property referred to in s. 4, deemed to be a gift under that section.

Explanation.--A transfer of any building or part thereof referred to in clause (iii), Clause (iii-a) or clause (iii-b) of s. 27 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 by the person who is deemed under the said clause to be the owner thereof made voluntarily and without consideration in money or money's worth, shall be deemed to be a gift made by such person. As in the case of Hindu Joint Family, the coparceners do not have exclusive rights on any specific property of the family, the property allotted of their shares become specified only on partition the same is the position in the case of a partner of a firm. No partner of a firm can claim exclusive or specific right in any specific asset of the property of a firm, since a partner in a firm has no elusive right on any property of the firm he cannot transfer the property and that upon dissolution of the firm, the distribu-tion, division or allotment of assets to the partner/s or one of the partners, in terms of dissolution deed, releasing his rights in the assets of the firm for the consideration of a certain amount, in such circumstances, there was no transfer of property and the differential amount, did not amount to gift, Jagatram Ahuja v. Commissioner of Gift Tax, Hyderabad, (2000) 8 SCC 249; CGT v. N.S. Getty Chettiar, (1971) 2 SCC 741: (1971) 82 ITR 599 [Gift Tax Act, 1958, ss. 2(xii), (xxxiv)(d) & 4]