UK High Court's Judgment on Modern Perspective of Donatio Mortis Causa

There are three requirements to constitute a valid DMC. They are:

i) Donor contemplates his impending death.
ii) Donor makes a gift which will only take effect if and when his contemplated death occurs. Until then Donor has the right to revoke the gift.
iii) Donor delivers dominion over the subject matter of the gift to Recipient.

As many judges have observed, the doctrine of DMC (Donatio Mortis Causa) in the context of English law is an anomaly. It enables Donor to transfer property upon his death without complying with any of the formalities of section 9 of the Wills Act or section 52 of the Law of Property Act. Thus the doctrine paves the way for all of the abuses which those statutes are intended to prevent.The Lord Chancellor in Jones v Selby and Lord Chelmsford in Cosnahan drew attention to this risk. They stressed the need for the strictest scrutiny of the factual evidence. The Court of Appeal rightly stressed in Birch that the courts must not allow DMC to be used as a device in order to validate ineffective wills.

Neutral Citation Number: [2015] EWCA Civ 581
		Case No: A3/2014/2704

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE, CHANCERY DIVISION
MR HOLLANDER QC, SITTING AS A DEPUTY HIGH COURT JUDGE
HC12E03256

		Royal Courts of Justice Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
		09/06/2015

B e f o r e :
LORD JUSTICE JACKSON
LORD JUSTICE PATTEN
and
LORD JUSTICE SALES
____________________
Between:

	KENNETH PAUL KING	Claimant/ Respondent
	- and -
	(1) THE CHILTERN DOG RESCUE (2) REDWINGS HORSE SANCTUARY	Defendants/Appellants

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Distinction between Civil Liability and Criminal Liability for Defamation

The view consistently taken by this Court has been that there is a distinction between criminal and civil liability for defamation. Civil liability is to be determined by the principles of English Law, but criminal liability is governed by the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and by those provisions alone. This view was taken by Mr. Justice Aikman in Isuri Prasad Singh v. Umrao Singh 22 A. 234 : A.W.N. (1900) 46 : 9 Ind. Dec. (N.S.) 1187, and was re-affirmed by a Full Bench in Emperor v. Ganga Prasad 29 A. 685 : 4 A.L.J. 605 : 6 Cr. L.J. 197 : A.W.N. (1907) 235. The view taken by this Court has quite recently been unanimously approved by a Full Bench of five Judges of the Calcutta High Court in Satis Chandra Chakrabarti v. Ram Dayal De 59 Ind. Cas. 143 : 48 C. 388 : 32 C.L.J. 94 : 24 C.W.N. 982 : 22 Cr. L.J. 31.

Allahabad High Court

Musammat Champa Devi And Anr. vs Pirbhu Lal And Ors. on 14 December, 1925

Equivalent citations: 92 Ind Cas 429

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