What legal principle prevents a person from contradicting previous words or actions?

The principle that prevents a person from contradicting previous words or actions is known as estoppel. This legal doctrine is designed to promote fairness and consistency in legal proceedings by preventing parties from changing their position when such a change would unfairly disadvantage another party who relied on the original position.

Estoppel essentially holds that if a party has made representations or taken actions that lead another party to believe in a certain state of affairs, the first party cannot later argue against that belief if it would cause harm to the second party. This is essential in ensuring that individuals and entities are held accountable for their commitments, promoting reliance and trust in transactions and agreements.

In legal contexts, estoppel can apply in several ways, such as preventing a party from denying the truth of a statement they previously made, or forbidding them from taking a position that contradicts their past conduct. This legal principle plays a critical role in upholding the integrity and predictability of interpersonal and business interactions.

While condemnation refers to the expression of strong disapproval, representation generally involves making a statement or assertion about something, and interpretation is the process of explaining or clarifying the meaning of something, none of these capture the binding nature of one’s prior words or actions in the way that estoppel does