The English law doctrine of proprietary estoppel and the extent to which it could be applied in Jordanian law

Abstract EN

The English law doctrine of proprietary estoppel is an equitable doctrine that represents the intervention of equity to mitigate the strictly harsh rules of the statute, and to create new proprietary rights in land, even in the absence of any formal requirements.

In Jordanian law, proprietary rights in land cannot be created informally, i.e.

in the full absence of the needed formalities, and Jordanian courts cannot admit mere promises, or assurances, as a means of creation of such rights.

This article has examined the feasibility of the operation of the doctrine of proprietary estoppel, or a similar doctrine, in Jordanian law and investigated how Jordanian courts currently deal with such disputes as those which are presented before English courts.

It has reached the conclusion that it is possible for Jordanian law, with certain limit, to adopt a similar doctrine under the name of “the doctrine of the fair enforcement of representations or promises in land”