A gift, in the law of property, has a very specific meaning. In order for a gift to be effective under the law, three elements must exist: Law (a loanword from Old Norse lag), in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide punishments for those who do not follow... // Use of the term The concept of property or ownership has no single or universally accepted definition. ...

Property Law
Part of a series on the common law
Acquisition of property
Gift  · Adverse possession
Lost, mislaid, and abandoned property
Bailment  · licence
Estates in land
Fee simple  · Life estate  · Fee tail
Concurrent estate  · Leasehold estate
Nonpossessory interest in land
Easement  · Profit
Covenant running with the land
Equitable servitude
Other topics
Fixtures  · Waste
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1. The grantor of the gift must have a present intent to make a gift of the property to the grantee. A promise to make a gift in the future is unenforceable, and legally meaningless, even if the promise is accompanied by a present transfer of the physical property in question.

   Suppose, for example, that Joey hands Rachel a diamond ring and says, "I bought you this ring for your next birthday, so you hold onto it until then, and it will be your present." Joey has not made a present gift, and could legally demand the ring back on the day before Rachel's birthday.

2. The gift must be delivered to the grantee. If the gift is of a type that can not be delivered in the conventional sense - a house, or a bank account - the delivery can be effected by a constructive delivery, wherein a tangible item that symbolizes the gift - a deed or key to the house, a passbook for the bank account - is delivered instead.
3. The grantee must accept the gift. However, because people generally accept gifts, acceptance will be presumed, so long as the grantee does not expressly reject the gift. A rejection of the gift destroys the gift, so that a grantee can not revive a once-rejected gift by later accepting it. In order for such an acceptance to be effective, the grantor would have to extend the offer of the gift again.

Gifts can be inter vivos - during the life of the grantor - or causa mortis - made by the grantor in anticipation of his own death. A gift causa mortis is not effective unless the grantor actually dies. Image File history File links Legal portal image File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Property law is the law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land as distinct from personal or moveable possessions) and in personal property, within the common law legal system. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... In real estate law, adverse possession is a means of acquiring title to anothers real property without compensation. ... In the common law of property, personal belongings that have left the possession of their rightful owners without having directly entered the possession of another person are deemed to be lost, mislaid, or abandoned, depending on the circumstances under which they were found by the next party to come into... Bailment describes a legal relationship where physical possession of personal property (chattels) is transferred from one person (the bailor) to another person (the bailee) who subsequently holds possession of the property. ... A license or licence is a document or agreement giving permission to do something. ... Fee simple, also known as fee simple absolute or allodial, is a term of art in common law. ... A life estate, at common law is an estate in real property that ends at death. ... Fee tail is an obsolescent term of art in common law. ... A concurrent estate or co-tenancy is a concept in property law, particularly derived from the common law of real property, which describes the various ways in which property can be owned by more than one person at a given time. ... An easement is the right of use over the real property of another. ... A covenant running with the land, in the law of real property, is a nonpossessory interest in land in the form of an agreement between adjoining landowners to do or not do something with relation to the land that they respectively occupy - to maintain a fence, for example, or not... An equitable servitude is a term used in the law of real property to describe a nonpossessory interest in land that operates much like a covenant running with the land, requiring the landowner to maintain certain practices with respect to the land (e. ... In the law of real property, fixtures are anything that would otherwise be a chattel that have, by reason of incorporation or affixation, become permanently attached to the real property. ... A deed is a legal instrument used to grant a privilege. ... The word key has several uses: A key (lock) as a physical object (tool) used to manipulate a lock. ...