This chapter has a sociocultural approach to the quest for nutmeg and cloves. It analyses human, cross-cultural encounters in South East Asia, the native countries of numerous spices introduced in Mauritius over the course of the eighteenth century. As this chapter reveals, the French colonial spice project involved actors from different backgrounds for patronage, protection, and assistance. They used a mix of languages, promises, and informal relations mainly in South East Asian islands (the Maluku islands and the Philippines). The purpose of this chapter is to understand the movements of knowledge and people within cross-cultural interactions in the Indo-Pacific through the lens of plant exchange. These cross-cultural connections were essential for this project: Asian merchants and brokers were indispensable for acquiring spice plants and grains from Dutch colonial territory in today’s Indonesia. Insisting on the cross-cultural nature of the acquisition of spice plants, this chapter challenges existing narratives of the cultural components of the French empire.

Tax law contains a myriad of specific deduction provisions for particular kinds of expenditure that might not otherwise be deductible under the general deduction provision in s 8-1 ITAA97 discussed in Chapter 12. This chapter focuses on some common specific deduction provisions. A range of other specific deduction provisions are examined elsewhere in this book (eg Chapter 15 deals with specific deductions under the capital allowance regime and Chapter 19 deals with specific deductions for superannuation contributions). Like the general deduction provision, the specific deduction provisions operate subject to any provisions that deny or limit deductions. These provisions are discussed in Chapter 14.

Cuthbert of Wearmouth-Jarrow wrote the wonderful letter giving a moving eye-witness account of the calm death of Bede in 735. He later became abbot of Wearmouth-Jarrow for many years, during which time he corresponded with Anglo-Saxon missionaries working in Germany. Here are included the complete work on the death of Bede and a letter from Cuthbert to Lul, written some thirty years later, in which he notes that he is sending Lul Bede’s prose and verse works on Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, and he asks for a skilled glassmaker as well as a cithara player to come to Northumbria to teach him to play.

Chapter 3 focuses on the second major source of revenue for the Qajars: gifts and tributes. The chapter begins by highlighting the long history of political gift-giving in the Iranian world. It then demonstrates the central role of the pīshkish, a tributary gift-giving ceremony, in the political culture and economy of Qajar Iran, and its function in presenting Qajar rule as a continuation of previous Iranian royal dynasties. The chapter then discusses how gifts and honors given by Qajar rulers to society were part of an effort of presenting themselves as just and legitimate. Finally, the chapter considers the use of gifts to influence diplomacy and ease relations between Iranians and foreign envoys.

The letters of Boniface’s circle, as published by M. Tangl, includes both letters to and from Boniface himself during his time as a missionary in Germany, and letters to and from his friends and associates. Here 3 letters from Anglo-Saxon women are included, two of them to their friend Boniface. Also a letter from Boniface to Ecgberht bishop of York in which he complains of the immoral behaviour of king Æthelbald of Mercia, and a letter to Boniface from Æthelbert of Kent, thanking him for his mission work, sending him a raincoat and asking for two falcons to be sent from Germany.

The introduction discuses the notion of gift in contrast with tributes, by paying a particular attention to gifts of prestige, and their importance in the Atlantic slave trade and provides a outline of each chapter.

A gift, my grandmother used to say, is just a loan. And certainly in many parts of the world gifts, far from being merely free-will offerings, are what bind people together in relationships of felt indebtedness. As one traces the meaning and forms of gift-giving in the Middle East and North Africa, one appreciates that the lines along which gifts flow and the meanings that are attached to them are, like the traces of one’s passing, an indicator of the bonds of obligations formed. In a sense, the running imbalance of gifts thus underscores the nature of many social ties and their negotiation in this part of the world and with them a keener appreciation of how they inform the encounters that sustain the social order.

In chapter 2 we discussed contract formation in general, whereas here we shall dive deeper into formality and delivery in particular. Before doing so, we need to lay the foundations by which to evaluate the legal impact of formality and delivery on civil and commercial contracts. It will be recalled that under the civil law tradition, contracts are predicated on three general pillars, namely: (i) consent, consisting of offer, acceptance and intention to be legally bound; (ii) subject-matter; and (iii) cause. In addition, there may, although not necessarily, exist two further requirements (special pillars), namely: (iv) formality; and (v) delivery

The early seventh-century papyrus from the St Sergius Monastery at Nessana in Roman Third Palestine (Negev desert, Israel) illustrates how early byzantine monastic stewards categorized and handled lay donations. Called an ‘Account of Church Offerings’, P.Ness. III 79 preserves registers that formally separate gifts called ‘blessings’ (eulogiai) from ‘offerings’ (prosphorai). Though unique in the papyrus record, such categorical distinctions are also implied by contemporary hagiography; P.Ness III 79 confirms that monks formally recognized a categorical difference between these two types of gifts, as implied by hagiography. Moreover, hagiography indicates that blessings were considered gifts that did not oblige their recipients to give anything in return, while offerings expected recipients to provide some sort of service. Marks placed next to entries of offerings in P.Ness III 79 suggest that concern for obligation guided monastic stewardship practices. Such monastic practices and concerns may be illuminated by distinctions drawn between restricted and unrestricted gifts by modern non-profits.

Conspicuous consumption and display were central to the Residents’ representational strategies at court. Britons in India are often assumed to have dismissed gift-giving as mere bribery and regarded regal pageantry as empty spectacle; in fact, the opposite is true. Residents were very aware of the symbolism of gifts and their efficacy at securing relationships both vertically and horizontally; this awareness is clearly manifest in their efforts to monitor and regulate these exchanges at court. The attempt on the part of the Company to impose a rigid, contractual framework on gift-giving was therefore not a sign of ignorance or disregard, nor was it simply an attempt to preclude corruption at court. By situating these debates within wider disagreements about the Residents’ expense claims, it becomes clear that there were other, more abstract issues at stake. These squabbles about money were a product of ambivalent attitudes about conspicuous consumption and display and reflect serious differences of opinion regarding the basis of the Company’s legitimacy in India.

Equity recognises as property certain assets not recognised at common law, such as the beneficiary’s interest in a trust. It is also clear that property interests can be created more informally in equity than at law. One aspect of this is equity’s attitude to assignments of property. Assignments are transfers of property either for consideration or as gifts. The question whether property has been effectively assigned is of considerable commercial significance. It is not always an easy question to answer. The law of assignments stands at the intersection of common law, equity and statute. The common law developed basic rules for the transfer of property. Equity acts as a ‘gloss’ and recognises assignments in various cases where the common law would not. Many assignments are also effected by statute. So when we consider whether an assignment has been effective, we need to be able to apply law from all three sources.

We know about the benefactors of Greek cities primarily from inscriptions that mark the honours given to them for their benefaction. But the act of benefaction, which is nothing other than the giving of a gift to a corporate body, existed independently of the honour, and this chapter seeks to turn attention to why it was that institutions needed benefactors, and the different needs of institutions of different sizes. Corporate bodies had a number of ways, including direct and indirect taxation and requiring contributions, to meet their financial and other needs, but the smaller the corporate body, the more important it was for it to cultivate benefactors. The particular need felt by Athenian demes can be seen to be reflected in the indications in the epigraphic record that they were precocious in developing ways of encouraging benefaction. But how a group relates in size to other groups is important in determining the attitudes that potential benefactors take to it, so that relative as well as absolute size matters.

This chapter examines the resulting trust. It is a type of implied trust and it arises by operation of laweither because of the presumed intention of the parties or because of the failure of an express trust. A presumed resulting trust arises where land is purchased in the name of one party but the purchase monies have been provided by another party. The presumption can be rebutted by evidence of a gift or advancement to a close family member of a loan. Evidence of an illegal motive was once inadmissible to use to rebut a presumption but today the court uses its discretion as to whether it will be admitted. Automatic resulting trusts usually arise where a purpose has failed. A new type of trust 'the Quistclose trust' was created when Quistclose successfully recovered money loaned to pay dividends to a company which went bankrupt. Sometimes a surplus remains after the purpose of the trust has been carried out this will result back to the settlor and where a trust fails to conform with key requirements of a trust then the property will usuallyrevert back to the settlor although in some cases the trust property has been found to be an absolute gift.

Courtship behaviour varied not just across social class but also depended on individual inclination and disposition.There were agreed patterns of behaviour, particularly in middle-class society, that signalled to family, friends and the wider community that a couple were courting and the expectation was that the courtship would end in marriage. Not everyone observed or followed the rules of courtship, particularly around the issue of pre-marital sex.Courtships sometimes broke down and led to breach of promise to marry cases.While impossible to quantify, one of the facts to emerge from a study of breach of promise cases is the prevalence of sex as part of courtship. While the Presbyterian church authorities were tolerant, if not approving, of couples who consummated their relationship before marriage, the statistical evidence slowly emerging from scattered sources also indicates a significant number of pregnant Catholic brides.The single mother may have been shunned by society but there was less shame attached to the birth of children within seven or eight months of marriage.There is evidence in middle-class urban society of changing attitudes to courtship in the early decades of the twentieth century with more men and women anxious to make their own choice of spouse.