promissory estoppel Flashcards
definition
provides a means of making a promise binding even without consideration, developed from Lord Denning’s obiter statement
central London property trust v high trees
one note
requirements of promissory estoppel
- A has made a clear and unequivocal promise not to enforce legal rights against B
- B has relied on the promise
- It would be inequitable for A to resile
clear promise
there must be a clear and unequivocal promise or representation that strict rights will not be enforced
Woodhouse AC Israel Cocoa v Nigerian Produce Marketing 1972
*Various contract for sale at (say) 100 Nigerian pounds
*S confirms that “payment can be made in sterling”
*£(sterling) losses value: 100 Nigerian pounds now = (say) £120 instead of £100
*S demands £120
*B refuses, arguing S represented that the price was now £100, thus S estopped from claiming £120
Held that whatever B had understood, S had made no such promise: the objective meaning of S’s words was that B could pay the £ equivalent of the original Nigerian currency price at the payment date.
Lord Hailsham; Woodhouse
if words are ‘insufficiently ambiguous and precise to form the basis for a variation in the contract, I do not think their effect is sufficiently unambiguous or precise to form the basis of an estoppel
-> if a statement is too equivocal to be a contractual offer you cannot get around the problem by saying it gives rise to promissory estoppel instead
promise can be implied: Hughes v Metropolitan Railway Co 1877
in onenote
reliance: detriment
Hughes:
- T clearly acted to their detriment on the promise since they would have otherwise carried out the repairs in the 6-month period
- But in High Trees, Denning held L estopped from claiming rent during a 5 year period when L had let T pay half normal rent
- what was Ts reliance?
change of position as reliance
where promisee bases their affairs over a long period on the promise, so that it is hard to say how things would have been otherwise
