from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
GIFT INTER Vivos. A gift made from one or more persons, without any prospect
of immediate death, to one or more others.
2. These gifts are so called to distinguish them from gifts causa-
mortis, (vide Donatio causa mortise,) from which they differ essentially. 1.
A gift inter vivos, when completed by delivery, passes the title to the
thing so that it cannot be recovered back by the giver; the gift causa
mortis is always given upon the implied condition that the giver may, at any
time during his life, revoke it. 7 Taunt. 231; 3 Binn. 366. 2. A gift inter
vivos may be made by the giver at any time; the donatio causa mortis must be
made by the donor while in peril of death. In both cases there must be a
delivery. 2 Kent's Com. 354; 1 Beav. R. 605; 1 Miles, R. 109.