ESTOPPEL

Abstract

The theory of Estoppel, originating in common law, also draws its sources from the continental law system since the Digest of Justinian and the Majala of the Ottoman Era. There was already the rule “ venire contra factum proprium nulli conceditur” and the prohibition against going against one’s own act. The entrenchment of estoppel in English and American Law covers the absence of a general principle of good faith in contractual matters. It has an exclusive defensive function, however in American and Australian laws it is possible to use the mechanism of estoppel in an offensive way, which is based on an idea that a party must not allow damage to increase if he could reasonably attenuated it.