estop
To estop means to prevent a party from asserting a claim , right , or argument. Courts estop parties from asserting these claims, rights, or arguments through the process of estoppel .
In the field of contract law , promissory estoppel estops parties from claiming that no contract exists when another party was harmed through the reasonable reliance upon a promise by the first party.
In the fields of civil procedure and criminal law , collateral estoppel prevents parties from re-litigating any issue which has already been litigated . Parties are only estopped from re-litigating an issue if that issue was actually, validly, and finally determined on the merits .
[Last reviewed in October of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team ]
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