Case Note on High Court Decision on Equitable Estoppel in Waltons Stores Interstate Ltd v Maher

Case note on the High
Court key decision on
equitable estoppel in
Waltons Stores
Interstate Ltd v Maher
1988 164 CLR 387

Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The contract law is a branch of civil law which deals with the agreements which are
formed between two parties. In order to bring the claim of the breach of contract there must be
essentials of valid contract present which includes firstly the offer by one party, its acceptance by
the other, amount of consideration, intention to create legal relations and the capacity of parties
to enter into the contract (Chen, 2017). This legislation provides many remedies to the aggrieved
party in case of any loss suffered by it in case of breach of contract which includes damages,
specific performance of contract, injunction order and many others. This report shall cover the
case note on Waltons Stores Interstate Ltd v Maher
MAIN BODY
The promissory estoppel is an important principle of contract law which is meant as when
a party fails subsequently in order to fulfill the promise and other party to whom the promise is
made suffers any detriment or the loss as the result of non- fulfillment of promise. The elements
of promissory estoppel are discussed below-
 The promise is made y promisor.
 The promisor then creates the assumption that promise shall be kept or the contract shall
be created on the basis of promise.
 The promise suffers loss due to non- fulfillment of promise (Robertson, 2018).
Case of Waltons Stores Interstate Ltd v Maher
It is the leading case relating to contract law in Australia. It deals with the principle of
promissory estoppel wherein the High court held that estoppel in some circumstances may be the
cause of action. The facts of the case are that Maher have owned some of the property with the
buildings on it in the Nowra. He came into negotiation with the department store, namely
Waltons Store for the purpose of lease of land. The waltons store wanted the demolition of the
existing building and wanted the new building to be erected. On relying on the representation
which was made before even the contract was completed, Maher have demolished th building
and began to erect the new building. But contract was never completed as Walton Stores did not