we call gifts between the living, are of another kind, and have
nothing in common with legacies. If the transaction be complete,
they cannot be revoked at pleasure; and it is complete when the
donor has manifested his intention, whether in writing or not.
Our constitution has settled that such a manifestation of inten-
tion binds the donor to deliver, exactly as in the case of sale; so
that even before delivery gifts are completely effectual, and the
donor is under a legal obligation to deliver the object. Enact-
ments of earlier emperors required that such gifts, if in excess
of two hundred solidi, should be officially registered; but our
constitution has raised this maximum to five hundred solidi,
and dispensed with the necessity of registering gifts of this or
of a less amount; indeed it has even specified some gifts which
are completely valid, and require no registration, irrespective
of their amount. We have devised many other regulations in
order to facilitate and secure gifts, all of which may be gathered
from the constitutions which we have issued on this topic. It is
to be observed, however, that even where gifts have been
completely executed we have by our constitution under certain
circumstances enabled donors to revoke them, but only on
proof of ingratitude on the part of the recipient of the bounty;
the aim of this reservation being to protect persons, who
have given their property to others, from suffering at the hands
of the latter injury or loss in any of the modes detailed in our
constitution. 3 There is another specific kind of gift between the
living, with which the earlier jurists were quite unacquainted, and
which owed its later introduction to more recent emperors. It
was called gift before marriage, and was subject to the implied
condition that it should not be binding until the marriage had
taken place; its name being due to the fact that it was always