A promise is a claim of intent to act in a certain manner or to refrain from acting in a certain manner. A promise is made by a promisor to the promisee. The one who claims intent is the promisor, and the one to whom the claim of intent is made is the promisee. Therefore, by making a promise, the promisor makes a type of commitment that justifies the promisee’s reliance on the promisor to carry out that specific promise. A promise could be explicit (express, oral or written) or implicit (implied, generally inferred from conduct). An example of a promise made would be an agreement to pay for or deliver specific items or services.
Not all types of promises raise a legal obligation to enforce the promise. In a legal context, the promise must be made with sufficient consideration. Courts will look to contract law and related obligations when determining whether the promise should be binding, and thus be enforced. Courts make some promises enforceable because the moral duty to make good on the manifestation of intent is the fundamental basis of all contracts. For instance, a promise may be voidable if a party does not have the mental capacity to enter into a binding agreement and the other party knows about the mental state of the promisee. In addition, if the promisee were to enter into the agreement by a promise induced by fraud, breach, or some other illegal action, the original promise may be deemed void. If a binding promise is broken, the original promisee has a cause of action and may be entitled to damages.
A promise could be conditional; for the conditional promise to come into effect, the condition precedent must be met. The condition precedent is the stated action that must occur for the parties to perform the promised event. For instance, if a contract between a promisor and a promisee states that “the promisor will give the promisee $500 if the promisee signs the contract agreement” then the promisee signing the contract agreement would be the condition precedent.
See: Contract, Promissory estoppel, and Unjust enrichment.
See also: Cosgrove v. Bartolotta, 150 F.3d 729 (1998), Maughs v. Porter, 157 Va. 415 (1931), Dougherty v. Salt, 227 N.Y. 200, 125 N.E. 94 (1919).
[Last updated in January of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]