Source: https://h2o.law.harvard.edu/collages/4636
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 03:58:46+00:00

Document:
ERROR from the district court of Lancaster county. Tried below before HOLMES, J. Affirmed.
The opinion contains a statement of the case.
Additional references as to sufficiency of consideration: Hamer v. Sidway, 124 N.Y. 538; Lindell v. Rokes, 60 Mo. 249; Earle v. Angell, 157 Mass. 249; Bretton v. Prettiman, Sir T. Raym. [Eng.] 153; Wilkinson v. Oliveira, 27 E. C. L. [Eng.] 490.
May the first, 1801. I promise to pay to Katie Scothorn on demand, $2,000, to be at 6 per cent per annum.
A. Well the old gentleman came in there one morning about 9 o'clock,—probably a little before or a little after, but early in the morning,— and he unbuttoned his vest and took out a piece of paper in the shape of a note; that is the way it looked to me; and he says to Miss Scothorn, "I have fixed out something that you have not got to work any more." He says, "None of my grandchildren work and you don't have to."
A. She took the piece of paper and kissed him; and kissed the old gentleman and commenced to cry.
Where a note, however, is based on a promise to give for the support of the objects referred to, it may still be open to this defense [want of consideration], unless it shall appear that the donee has, prior to any revocation, entered into engagements or made expenditures based on such promise, so that he must suffer loss or injury if the note is not paid. This is based on the equitable principle that, after allowing the donee to incur obligations on the faith that the note would be paid, the donor would be estopped from pleading want of consideration.
According to the undisputed proof, as shown by the record before us, the plaintiff was a working girl, holding a position in which she earned a salary of $10 per week. Her grandfather, desiring to put her in a position of independence, gave her the note, accompanying it with the remark that his other grandchildren did not work, and that she would not be obliged to work any longer. In effect he suggested that she might abandon her employment and rely in the future upon the bounty which he promised, lie, doubtless, desired that she should give  up her occupation, but whether he did or not, it is entirely certain that he contemplated such action on her part as a reasonable and probable consequence of his gift. Having intentionally influenced the plaintiff to alter her position for the worse on the faith of the note being paid when due, it would be grossly inequitable to permit the maker, or his executor, to resist payment on the ground that the promise was given without consideration. The petition charges the elements of an equitable estoppel, and the evidence conclusively establishes them. If errors intervened at the trial they could not have been prejudicial. A verdict for the defendant would be unwarranted.
Original Item: "Ricketts v. Scothorn"

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