The Principle of Promissory Estoppel in Legal Context

What is promissory estoppel and under what circumstances does it take effect?

Choose the correct circumstance from the following options:

A. Gia relied on Alvin's promise to her detriment and Alvin should have known Gia would rely on it.

B. Gia relied on Alvin's promise to her detriment.

C. Gia's reliance on Alvin's promise was foreseeable.

D. Alvin knew Gia would rely on his promise.

E. Gia relied on Alvin's promise which Alvin knew she would do.

Promissory Estoppel

Promissory estoppel is a legal principle that applies when a promise is relied on to the detriment of the promisee and the promisor should have known this would occur. In the provided options, it would apply in the scenario of option A where both conditions are met.

Explanation

Promissory estoppel is a legal principle that a promise is enforceable by law, even if made without formal consideration, when a promisor has made a promise to a promisee who then relies on that promise to his or her detriment.

In the context of the options given, promissory estoppel would take effect under the circumstance mentioned in option A: 'Gia relied on Alvin's promise to her detriment and Alvin should have known Gia would rely on it.' This is because to establish promissory estoppel, it must be proven that the promisor made a promise knowing (or should have known) that the promisee would likely rely on it, and the promisee did in fact rely on it to their detriment.

A key aspect in understanding promissory estoppel is the idea of detrimental reliance. This means that the promisee relied on the promise and consequently suffered some sort of harm or detriment due to their reliance on the promise when the promisor fails to fulfil it.