A common type of litigation involves claims by executors and adminis- trators or, in civil law countries, heirs and residuary legatees against donees who have received gifts mortis causa from a deceased. The transfer of property by way of gift follows different rules from those applied to testamentary dispositions. In particular, a will must be in writing, whereas a gift may be oral if followed by actual delivery. Since most gifts are made orally or, at least, do not satisfy the formal require- ments of a testamentary disposition and, moreover, gifts mortis causa are often made shortly before the death of the donor, the crucial question in many proceedings turns on whether there has been an actual delivery. The author discusses this problem under German law, illustrating it by reference to English and American authorities. In order to see the problem in its proper perspective, the author examines the fundamental distinctions between testamentary dispositions and dis- positions inter vivos. He concludes that there are four essential character- istics of a valid will. Thus, a testamentary disposition is limited to- (I) time after death; (II) the appointment of a successor to property; (III) such property of the deceased as is vested in him at death; (IV) person(s) surviving the deceased. In contradistinction, all other purported transfers of property are dis- positions inter vivos.

Am 17. November 1968 feiert Herr Staa1: 'ssekretar Professor Dr. h. C., Dr. E. h. Leo Brandt seinen 60. Geburtstag. Der Jubilar hat sich nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg auBergewohnliche Verdiens1: 'e urn den Ausbau und die Forderung der Wissenschaft im Lande Nordrhein-Westfalen und daruber hinaus erworben. Auch die Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Forsch'llng des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen ist Herrn Staatssekretar Professor Dr. Brandt fur seine nie erlahmende Initiative zu groBem Dank verpflichtJet. In dankbarer Anerkennung dieses erfolgreichen Wirkens widmen Mit glieder, der Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-West falen die vorliegende Festschl'ift dem Jubilar zum 60. Geburtstag. Unser auf richtiger Dank gilt allen denjenigen, die das Erscheinen des Werkes durch Geldspenden ermoglicht haben, sowie dem Wesooeutschen Verlag, der bereit willigst Betreuung und Herstellung ubernommen hat. G. Kegel J. Meixner lnhalt Vorwort der Herausgeber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Friedrich Seewald Staatssekretar Professor Dr. med. h. C., Dr. -Ing. E. h. Dipl. -Ing. Leo Brandt zum 60. Geburtstag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1. Teil NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN UND MATHEMATIK H elmut Ruska Die Bedeutung der Information fur Organismen und in der GeselIschaft 27 Wilhelm Fucks Ober neue Methoden zur Messung von Turbulenz in Flussigkeiten und uber die Statistik der intermittierenden Stromung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Wilhelm Groth Simulation von chemischen und physikalischen Vorgangen in der Chemosphare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Alfred Neuhaus, Helmut Heide und Roland Steffen Ober das Druck-Zustandsverhalten einiger Chalkogenide . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Helmut Zahn und Peter Roschlau Ober die monomere Insulin-B-Kette in der Disulfidform und das - misch der dimeren Insulin-B-Ketten gleicher Form 79 Haraid Schafer Chemische Transportreaktionen."

Professor Kegel comments on arecent decision of the German Supreme Court ("Bundesgerichtshof" which is the court of last resort in Western Ger many for civil and criminal actions). The court's decision dealt with an action brought by a Chicago (Illinois) manufacturer for the price of choco late sold and delivered to the defendant in early 1954, the defendant then doing business in New Orleans (Louisiana). The greater portion of the price of $ 5. 000 had not been paid by the defendant. The action had been brought before a German court because the defendant had assets in Germany. The issue of the case was whether or not the statute of limitations had run. The German Supreme Court in its decision restated the rule of German conflicts law that the law governing the limitation of an action is the law which governs the obligation. The Court held that, as an action for price is governed by the lex loci solutionis, the law of Louisiana had to be applied in the case before the court. The Court, however, pointed out that should the law of Louisiana subject the duties of the buyer to another law - in the case at bar to the law of Illinois - this reference of Louisiana law to Illinois law would be binding on German courts."