5G2 gif 
GIF'FORD,' [of jipan, Sax. to give, or of gib and 
fort^ Teat. q.d. one that is not weary of giving.] A 
furnanie. 
GIF'HORN, a town of Germany, in the circle of Lower 
Saxony, and principality, of Luneburg Zell, fituated on 
the Allier : nineteen miles eaft of Zell. 
GIFO'NI, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Na¬ 
ples, and Principato Citra; feven miles eaft-north-ealt 
of Salerno. 
GIFT,y'. A thing given or bellowed ; fomething con¬ 
ferred without price.—They prefented unto him gifts, 
gold, and frankincenfe, and myrrh. Mat. ii. ii. 
Recall your^^, for I your pow’r confefs; 
But firft take back my life, gft that’s lefs. Drydcn. 
The aft of giving : 
Creator bounteous and benign, 
Gtver of all things good, but faireft tliis 
Of all thy gifts. Milton, 
The right or power of bellowing.—No man has any an¬ 
tecedent right or claim to that which comes to him by 
Irtzgifl. South. —Oblation; offering.—Many nations fliall 
come with in tlieir hands, even gfts to the king of 
heaven. Toi. xiii. 11.—A bribe.—Thou lhalt not wrell 
judgment, thou llialt not refpeft perfons, neither take a 
gft, for 'A gift doth blind the eyes of the wife. Deut. xvi. 
iq. —Power; faculty.—He who has the gift of ridicule, 
finds fault with any thing that 6;ives him an opportunity 
of exerting h.is talent. Addifon. 
She w'as lovely to attrail 
Thy love, not thy fubje6tion, and her gifts 
Were fuch as made for government well leem’d 
Unfeemly to bear rule. Milton, 
“ Look not a Gift horfe in the mouth.” 
The Latins fay. Noli equi dentes infpicerc dotiati. The Ita¬ 
lians, A cavallao daio non guardar in bocca. The French, 
A ckeval donne il ne faut pas regarder aux dents. The Spa¬ 
niards, A cavall ddio no le yniran el diente. The tendency 
of all which is to lliew, that whenever we find fault wit.h 
the value of a free gift, we not only betray an avaricious 
difpofition, but are likewife guilty of a certain degree of 
ingratitude. 
GIFT ^y. in huv, a conveyance which palTeth either 
lands or goods. A gift is of larger extent than a grant, 
being applied to things moveable and immoveable; yet, 
as to things immoveable, when ftriftly taken, it is appli¬ 
cable only to lands and tenements.given in tail; but gifts 
and grants are faid to be alike in nature, and often con¬ 
founded. Wood's Injl. 260. The conveyance of lands by 
gift is properly applied to the creation of an eftate-tail, 
as feoffment is to that of an eftate in fee, and leafe to 
tiiat of an eflate for life or years. It ditiers in nothing 
from a feoffment but in the nature of the eflate palling 
by it: for the operative words of conveyance iiitliis cafe 
are do, or dedi—I give, or have given ; and gifts in tail are 
equally imperfedi without livery of feifin as Leoffments 
in fee-fimple. Lit, 59. And this is the only diflindtion 
that Littleton feems to take when he lays, “ it is to be 
underfiood that there is feofi'or and feoffee ; donor and 
ilonee'; letfor and leiTee:” Lit. 57 ; viz. feoffor is applied 
to ajfeoft'ment fn fee-fimple, donor to a gift in tail, and 
leffor to a leafe for life or years or at will. In common 
acceptation gifts are frequently confounded with 
OiComm. 316. c. 20. 
Gifts or grants for the transferring of perfonal pro-- 
perty are thus to be' diftinguithed from each other ; that 
gifts are always gratuitous; grants are upon tome con- 
lideration or equivalent : and they may be divided with 
regard to their fubjeft matter into gifts or grants of 
chattels real, and gifts or grants of chattels perfonal. 
Under the former head may be included all leales for 
years of land, aflignments and furrenders ofthefe leafes ; 
and all the other methods of conveying an eilate lefs 
than frcehbld. See the articles Deed, Con VEy.iNCEj 
G I F 
Estate. Thefe however very feldom carry the out¬ 
ward appearance of a gift, however freely bellowed ; 
being ufually expreffed to be m.ade in conlideration of 
blood, or of natural afleftion ; or of five fliillings or ten- 
fhillings nominally paid to the grantor: and in cafe of 
leafes, ahvays referving a rent, though it be bi.t a pep- 
per-Corn; any of which confiderations will in the eye of 
the law convert the gift, if executed, into a grant ; if 
not executed, into a contraft. 2 Comm. 440. c. 30. 
Grants or gifts of chattels perfonal are the aft of 
transferring the right and the poffelTion of them, whereby 
one man renounces, and another immediately acquires, 
all title and intereft therein : which may be done either 
in writing, or by word of mouth, atteffed byifuflitient evi¬ 
dence, of which the delivery of poffeffion is the ffrongeft 
and moll elfential. But this conveyance, when merely 
voluntary, is fomewhat fufpicious: and is ufually con- 
ftrued to be fraudulent, if creditors or others become 
fufferers thereby ; and particularly, by flat. 3 Hen.VII. 
c. 4. all deeds of gifts of goods, made in trull to the ufe 
of the donor, lhall be void, becaufe otiierwife perfons 
might be tempted to commit treafon or felony without 
danger of forfeiture : and the creditors of the donor 
might alfo be defrauded. And by Hat. 13 Eliz. c. 5, 
every grant or gift of chattels as well as lands with an 
intent to defraud creditors or otliers, lliall be void as 
againff fucli perfons to whom fuch fraud would be pre¬ 
judicial, but as againff the grantor or giver himfelf, fliall 
Hand good and effedlual : and all peri'ons, partakers in, 
or privy to, fuch fraudulent grants, lhall forfeit the- 
whole value of the goods, one moiety to the king, and 
the other to the party grieved ; and alfo on conviftion 
fuff'er half a year’s imprifonment. 3 Rep. 82. 
A true and proper gift or grant is always accompanied 
with delivery of pofl'ellion, and takes effecl immediately: 
as if A. gives to B. lool. or a flock of fheep, and puts 
him in polTeflion of them direftly, it is then a gift exe- 
cuted in the donee ; and it is not in the donor’s power 
toretra£tit, though he did it without any conlideration 
or recompence, Jenk. 109 ; unlefs it be prejudicial to 
creditors, or the donor were under any legal incapacity, 
as infancy, coverture, durefs, or the like : or if he were 
drawn in, circumvented, or impofed upon, by falfe pre¬ 
tences, ebriety, or furprife. But if the gift does not 
take effeft by delivery of immediate poirelTion, it is then 
not properly a gift, but a contraft; and this a man can¬ 
not be compelled to perform, but upon good and fufii- 
cient conlideration. aCoirm. 441. c. 30. 
As to gifts in law, when a man is married to a woman, 
all her goods and chattels by gift in law become the 
hufband’s; but then he is liable for her debts : fo if a 
man is made executor, the law gives him all the goods 
and chattels of the teffaior, fubjedl to his debts. i Injb, 
351. A man by deed did give and grant, bargain and 
fell, alien, enfeoff', and confirm, to his daughter certain 
lands: but no conlideration of money was mentioned,, 
nor was the deed inrolled ; there was likewife no confi- 
deration of natural aff'ection exprelfed, (other than what 
was implied in naming the grantee his daughter,) and 
there was no livery indorfed, or any found to have been, 
made ; nor was the daughter in poifedion at the time of- 
tile deed made : and in the king’s-bench it was ad¬ 
judged by the court that the deed was good, and car¬ 
ried the effate to the daughter by way of covenant to 
Band I'eifed, &c. i Mod. 157. 
GIFT'ED, adj. Given; bellowed: 
Made of my enemies the fcorn and gaze. 
To grind in brazen fetters, under talk, 
"With my hea.v'n-gifttd llrength. Milton's Agonifes. 
Endowed with extraordinary powers. It is commonly 
uled ironically.—There is no talent lo pernicious as elo¬ 
quence, to thofe who have it not under command : v/o- 
raen, who are lo liberally gifted by nature in this particu¬ 
lar, ought to lludy the rules of female oratory. Addifon 
GiFT'ROBE. 
