Kirksey v. Kirksey
Supreme Court of Alabama
8 Ala. 131 (1845)
After her husband Henry (Kirksey's brother) died in 1840, Antillico Kirksey (plaintiff), living about sixty miles from Kirksey (defendant), received a letter from him expressing sympathy for her situation and promising that if she came to see him, he would give her and her children a place to live and raise their family on his land. A month later, Antillico moved her family to Kirksey's land, where he provided a comfortable house for two years, then a much less comfortable house in the woods for a third year, after which he asked them to leave; Antillico sued for performance of the promise, and a jury awarded her $200 in damages, which Kirksey appealed.
Whether a promise to provide free land for a residence, fulfilled for a finite amount of time and then revoked, is gratuitous and thus unenforceable despite inducing the promisee to relocate in reliance on the promise.