Published on: 26 July 2023 at 10:59 IST
Court: Kings Bench
Citation: Pickard V. Sears 112 ER 179
Honourable King’s Bench speaking through Lord Denman has defined Estoppel as when one person has by his declaration, act or omission caused or permitted another person to believe a thing to be true and to act upon that belief, neither he nor his representative shall be allowed in any suit or proceeding between himself and such person or his representative to deny the truth of that thing.
Estoppel is based on the maxim Allegans Contraria Non Est Audiendus (a party is not to be heard to allege the contrary) and is that species of presumption Juries Et De Jure (absolute or conclusive or irrebuttable presumption), where the fact presumed is taken to be true, not as against all the world, but against a particular party, and that only by reason of some act done, it is in truth a kind of Argumentum Ad Hominem.
But the rule of law is clear, that, where one by his words or conduct wilfully causes another to believe the existence of a certain state of things, and induces him to act on that belief, so as to alter his own previous position, the former is concluded from averring against the latter a different state of things as existing at the same time;
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra