Promissory Estoppel

Plain English

Promissory estoppel is a special fairness rule that lets someone enforce a promise even when there's no official contract with all the usual requirements. If one person makes a clear promise, the other person reasonably relies on it and acts based on that reliance, and enforcing the promise is the only fair outcome, then a court might enforce it. This doctrine prevents someone from making a promise, watching someone else change their position based on it, and then backing out. It's about fairness when the normal contract rules don't quite fit.

Example

An uncle promises his nephew he'll pay for college tuition. The nephew relies on this promise and enrolls in an expensive university. Even without a written contract, a court might enforce the uncle's promise using promissory estoppel because the nephew reasonably relied on it.

Used in a sentence

“The court applied promissory estoppel to enforce the employer's promise of a pension because the employee had relied on it for decades.”

Related terms