§ VI. In What Sense Donation Ought to Be Irrevocable; and in What Cases It Can Be Revoked

891. • 1° Any donation inter vivos whatever can be revoked before acceptance.⁴ (e), p. 471.

2° A donation in prospect of death can be revoked a) if the donor repents; b) it is revoked ipso facto if the donor either donates the thing to another, or if he gave it with regard to some imminent danger from which he feared death, for example in grave illness or when battle was imminent, and escaped the danger; c) it is revoked by law itself if the donee dies before the donor.

3° A donation inter vivos perfected and accepted cannot be revoked by our law; but by natural right it is revocable if the conditions adjoined to the donation are not fulfilled, which, as is clear of itself, is valid concerning donation to pious causes. Yet here for practice it deserves to be noted that a pious donation which can truly and properly be called conditional occurs more rarely, although perhaps some burden to be fulfilled has been adjoined to it, say: the burden of celebrating certain Masses. The reason is: because a pious donation of itself and from its nature is usually made primarily and principally on account of the worship of God, the good of the Church, etc., indeed in such a way that the burden adjoined is only a secondary motive, on which the consent of the donor does not depend nor is limited. Whence a pious donation with a burden adjoined regularly will not be a donation under a condition, nor therefore can it be revoked by title of a condition not fulfilled; but ordinarily it will be only a donation under a simple mode, which does not render the pious donation revocable, although that mode ought to be observed from justice, as will be clear from the things now following. See n. 868.