Estoppel is where a party is prevented from denying or escaping the legal implications of a certain fact, because that party’s actions caused another party to reasonably believe that that the fact was true.
For example, in an agency by estoppel, a a court will deem that an agency relationship existed, where one party was acting on another party’s behalf, even though there was no actual agency relationship.
The doctrine of promissory estoppel provides that party will be liable for breaking a promise, even if there was no actual contract formed with the promisee.
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