• Order
  • Offers
  • Support
    • Due to unforeseen circumstances, our phone line will be unavailable from 5pm to 9pm GMT on Thursday, 28th March. Please be assured that orders will continue to be processed as usual during this period. For any queries, you can still contact us through your customer portal, where our team will be ready to assist you.

      March 28, 2024

  • Sign In

Disclaimer: This work was produced by one of our expert legal writers, as a learning aid to help law students with their studies.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of LawTeacher.net. Any information contained in this case summary does not constitute legal advice and should be treated as educational content only.

Gillett v Holt [2001]

302 words (1 pages) Case Summary

17th Jun 2019 Case Summary Reference this In-house law team

Jurisdiction / Tag(s): UK Law

Gillett v Holt [2001] Ch 210; [2000] 3 WLR 815

Proprietary estoppel – assurances and detriment.

Facts

The claimant, Gillett, worked on Holt’s farm. Holt persuaded Gillett to abandon plans for college and to work for him instead. Holt stated several times that on his death the farm would be left to the claimant. The relationship between them subsequently soured and Holt executed a will in which the claimant did not receive the farm. After an investigation into how they were running the farm, the claimant was dismissed and subsequently claimed a proprietary estoppel. The trial judge found against the claimant, who appealed. 

Issues

Proprietary estoppel allows the claimant to claim an interest in land if the landowner makes a promise that the claimant will acquire an interest and the claimant acts to his detriment in reliance upon this. It was argued that there had been no irrevocable promise made by Holt who was free to change his mind if his circumstances changed. It was also alleged there was insufficient evidence of any detriment to the claimant.

Decision/Outcome

The court found in favour of the claimant. There was no need for the defendant to do anything additional to make his promise irrevocable. In view of the promises made, reliance was presumed. The court pointed out that the three elements of the doctrine are often intertwined and are not separate. Whether there is a mutual understanding depends on all the factors. Detriment is not a narrow or technical concept and need not be financial.Gillett had been denied the opportunity of bettering himself by leaving school. Therefore, he had suffered a detriment in reliance upon Holt’s promise.

Cite This Work

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below:

Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.

Related Services

View all

Related Content

Jurisdictions / Tags

Content relating to: "UK Law"

UK law covers the laws and legislation of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Essays, case summaries, problem questions and dissertations here are relevant to law students from the United Kingdom and Great Britain, as well as students wishing to learn more about the UK legal system from overseas.

Related Articles