Given the Large Number of Successful Proprietary Claims, There Are Very Few Incentives for Parties Dealing with Land to Formalise Their Transactions

"Given the large number of successful proprietary claims, there are very few incentives for parties dealing with land to formalise their transactions"

Introduction

The doctrine of proprietary estoppel is often the subject of much debate and discussion by academics and judges, both of whom are still uncertain as to its true configuration. Sir Christopher Staughton, in Griss v Trust Laboratories Ltd & Patrick Cattle, contradictorily said that proprietary estoppel isn’t a familiar subject and that “there are few lawyers who are constantly concerned with it.”

Therefore, before attempting any discussion of the title, this essay will look to the development and progression of proprietary estoppel, and in doing so consider the factors that have led to an increase in the number of successful claims.

The question of incentives will be moderately brief. Motive rarely plays a leading role in land law, and so the focus of this essay will be on the causes behind the increase, its effect on proprietary estoppel as a tool of equity and its future under land law.

What is a proprietary claim?

The doctrine of proprietary estoppel has had many names in its development over the last century, including "estoppel by acquiescence," "estoppel by encouragement" and "quasi-estoppel,” and works to prevent one party from unjustly resiling on their words or actions which have led another party to believe in a particular state of affairs. It has equitable jurisdiction through which a court may interfere in cases where the strict legal rights are found to be unconscionable, or to do what is necessary to avoid an unconscionable result

Furthermore in differing from other estoppels, proprietary estoppel can be both used as the basis of a claim and/or create additional proprietary rights in or over specific land.

The evolution of PE?

Proprietary Estoppel can be traced right back into the 17th Century, and for decades the courts have been found unwilling to define the exact ambit...