daf bit: Bava Batra 151

[cellio]

The talmud discusses deathbed gifts (for several pages). The mishna says: if a dying man gave away his property in writing, but left some portion for himself, his gift is valid -- if he recovers and does not die, the gifts stand. If, however, he gave away everything and then he recovers, the gifts are not valid. The g'mara reasons that if he gave away everything, then clearly he did not expect to survive, so the gifts are implicitly on condition of his death. But if he held something back, then he must have thought that he might recover and be able to use it, so we assume that the gifts were intentional and not conditional on his death. The g'mara discusses many cases and examples, bringing in the idea of kinyan, or symbolic acquisition, and appears to conclude that even if symbolic acquisition occurred (which is normally enough to "make it official"), if he thought he was dying and then recovered, he can reclaim his property. (Mishna 146b, g'mara through 151 -- and continuing from here, but I haven't read ahead.)