Discuss promissory estoppel.

It its most basic terms, promissory estoppel “estopps” a person from benefitting from another’s reliance on a broken promise. In contract law, it can be substituted for consideration. Consideration is one of the three elements that must be present in order to create a contract. The other two elements are offer and acceptance. Consideration is usually money but does not have to be. For example, let’s say you are a seller and you state “I will sell you this fan if you promise to give me $100.” The buyer gives you the $100 in exchange for the fan. The consideration in this example is the $100. There must be a bargain from the promisor (the one making the promise) or a detriment to the promisee (the one giving up something) for there to be consideration. Thus, there must be an exchange of promises for consideration to be present.
However, there may not always be consideration and this is where promissory estoppel can be used to seek recovery. For promissory estoppel to apply, there first must be a promise. Next, the promisee’s reliance on the promise must have been reasonably foreseeable to the promisor. Also, there must have been actual reliance on the promise. Finally, only by enforcing the promise can injustice be avoided. All of these four elements must be met in order to apply this doctrine. In Ricketts v Scothorn (77 N.W. 365, 367), a grandfather promised to give his granddaughter $2000 plus interest so that she would not have to work like his other grandchildren. Here, there was no consideration to support this promise and the executor of the estate was “estopped” from alleging a lack of consideration as a basis for terminating the contract. Because the promisee here, the granddaughter, was induced into quitting her job based on this promise, the court held it would be grossly inequitable to dismiss it because there was no consideration. The doctrine has since evolved to not only include cases where there is no consideration but can also be a viable remedy for enforcing a contract by treating the promisee’s reliance alone as a separate and allowable basis for recovery.

Firstly, it is important to understand the term 'estoppel.' Essentially, an estoppel is a concept and legal term that will prevent someone from denying or contradicting something that they had said or done in the past. It is used as a legal tool to ensure that no one is left at a disadvantage because of someone else's inconsistencies or attempt to skew the truth.
Now, a promissory estoppel is a type of estoppel that prevents someone from doing or acting in a way that goes against something that they had already promised to do, whether it was in a formal or informal manner. This type of estoppel is usually found in a contract. Say you sign a lease contract that says you must pay your rent on the first day of every month; this is a promissory estoppel that ensures you will do what you promise to do in your lease.
A promissory estoppel is only used when the hypothetical breaking of whatever promise was made would be extremely detrimental, whether financially or otherwise, to one of the parties involved.