Promise

Promise
For other uses, see Promise (disambiguation).

A promise is a commitment by someone to do or not do something.

In the law of contract, an exchange of promises is usually held to be legally enforceable, according to the Latin maxim pacta sunt servanda.

Contents

Types

Both an oath and an affirmation can be a promise. One special kind of promise is the vow.

A notable type of promise is an election promise.

In contract law, a promise is a manifestation of intention to act or refrain from acting in a specified way [1]. It is so made as to justify a promisee in understanding that a commitment has been made. The person manifesting the intention is the promiser. The person to whom the manifestation is addressed is the promisee. Where performance of the promise is assumed to benefit a person other than the promisee, that person is a beneficiary. But in contract law, the word promise is commonly used to refer to promises which result in the promiser's word justifying expectations of performance from which a legal duty will arise in term of results. For instance, A orally agrees to sell land to B. This is an offer. B agrees to buy the land and pays $1000 to A. This is an acceptance of the offer. If the land did not legally belong to A, his is a fraud and B is legally expected to recover his $1000 By virtue of this indirect recognition of the duty to convey promise accurately, the agreement is a contract.If the promise is obviously misunderstood, the contract is void. Some say that the contract is a promise for a promise.

Examples

My friend promised me she would be there for my birthday.

My friend promised to do as I say.

My stepfather promised not to be cruel to me. -Cinderella

Conditional commitment

In loan guarantees, a commitment requires to meet an equity commitment, as well as other conditions, before the loan guarantee is closed.

Religion

Religions have similar attitudes towards promises.

Christianity

Main article: Oath

In Christianity, a distinction is made between simple promises and oaths or vows. An oath is a promise invoking God as a witness.[2] A vow is a solemn form of a promise typically made to commit oneself to a moral good with God as witness, and binds oneself to its fulfillment over time.[3]

Some groups of Christians, such as the Religious Society of Friends and the Mennonites, object to the taking of both oaths and affirmations, basing their objections upon a commandment given in the Sermon on the Mount, and regard all promises to be witnessed by God.

See also biblical covenants and biblical alliance.

Islam

In An-Nahl, god forbids Muslims to break their promises after they have confirmed them. All promises are regarded as having Allah as their witness and guarantor. In the Hadith, the Prophet states that a Muslim who made a promise and then saw a better thing to do, should do the better thing and then make an act of atonement for breaking the promise.[citation needed]

Philosophy

Philosophers have tried to establish rules for promises. Immanual Kant suggesed promises should always be kept, while some consequentialists argue that promises should be broken whenever doing so would yield benefits. In How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time, Iain King tried to reconcile these positions, suggesting that promises should be kept 'unless they are worth less to others than a new option is to you,' [4] and that this requires a relevant, unforeseen and reasonably unforeseeable change in the situation more important than the promise itself arising after the promise is made.[5]

See also

References

  • Plato, The Republic (ca 370 BC) Book I, 33IB
  • Cicero, De Officiis (ca 20 BC) I, C. IO, III, cc. 24-25
  • Decretales of Gregory IX lib. II, tit. 26, C. 27, canon law did not enforce all promises
  • Reinach, The Apriorischen Grundlagen des Bürgerlichen Rechtes (1922) §§ 2-4, that all rational societies need to have some way of making promises binding

Notes

  1. ^ Hogg, Martin (2011). Promises and Contract Law. Cambridge University Press. p. 1-57. ISBN 978-0521193382. 
  2. ^ Bunson, Matthew (2010). Catholic Almanac 2010. Our Sunday Visitor. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-59276-614-7. 
  3. ^ Bunson, op. cit. p.160
  4. ^ How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time: Solving the Riddle of Right and Wrong (2008), p.142
  5. ^ How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time: Solving the Riddle of Right and Wrong (2008), p.143

External links


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  • promise — prom·ise n: a declaration or manifestation esp. in a contract of an intention to act or refrain from acting in a specified way that gives the party to whom it is made a right to expect its fulfillment aleatory promise: a promise (as to compensate …   Law dictionary

  • Promise — Prom ise, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Promised}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Promising}.] [1913 Webster] 1. To engage to do, give, make, or to refrain from doing, giving, or making, or the like; to covenant; to engage; as, to promise a visit; to promise a… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Promise — Prom ise, a. [F. promesse, L. promissum, fr. promittere, promissum, to put forth, foretell, promise; pro forward, for + mittere to send. See {Mission}. ] [1913 Webster] 1. In general, a declaration, written or verbal, made by one person to… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • promise — vb Promise, engage, pledge, plight, covenant, contract are comparable when they mean to give one s word that one will act in a specified way (as by doing, making, giving, or accepting) in respect to something stipulated. Promise implies a giving… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • promise — [n1] one’s word that something will be done affiance, affirmation, agreement, asseveration, assurance, avowal, betrothal, bond, commitment, compact, consent, contract, covenant, earnest, engagement, espousal, guarantee, insurance, marriage, oath …   New thesaurus

  • promise — ► NOUN 1) an assurance that one will do something or that something will happen. 2) potential excellence. ► VERB 1) make a promise. 2) give good grounds for expecting. 3) (promise oneself) firmly intend …   English terms dictionary

  • promise — [präm′is] n. [ME promis < L promissum < promittere, to send before or forward < pro , forth + mittere, to send: see PRO 2 & MISSION] 1. an oral or written agreement to do or not to do something; vow 2. indication, as of a successful… …   English World dictionary

  • Promise — Prom ise, v. i. [1913 Webster] 1. To give assurance by a promise, or binding declaration. [1913 Webster] 2. To afford hopes or expectation; to give ground to expect good; rarely, to give reason to expect evil. [1913 Webster] Will not the ladies… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Promise — steht für: ein Album der englischen Gruppe Sade, siehe Promise (Album) ein Album des US Amerikaners Bruce Springsteen, siehe The Promise einen Fachbegriff aus der Informatik, siehe Future (Programmierung) Diese Seite ist …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • promise — (n.) c.1400, from L. promissum a promise, noun use of neuter pp. of promittere send forth, foretell, promise, from pro before (see PRO (Cf. pro )) + mittere to put, send (see MISSION (Cf. mission)). Ground sense is declaration made about the… …   Etymology dictionary

  • promise — A declaration which binds the person who makes it, either in honor, conscience, or law, to do or forbear a certain specific act, and which gives to the person to whom made a right to expect or claim the performance of some particular thing. A… …   Black's law dictionary

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