The Primacy of Expectancy in Estoppel Remedies: An Historical and Empirical Analysis

This article explores the historical origins and development of estoppel remedies from the early English courts to the modern application of estoppel principles in Canada. The author characterizes different types of estoppel, noting their doctrinal similarities and differences. The author pays particular attention to the reasoning the courts rely on when applying an estoppel remedy and concludes that an estoppel remedy is most likely to correspond to the expectancy of the representee. Hence, expectancy, also understood as the reasonable expectations engendered in the representee through the representations made by the representor, is the foremost basis for estoppel remedies. The author includes extensive appendices, as a record of his empirical study testing the remedial basis of estoppel, which cite recorded Canadian appellate estoppel cases, subdividing this data into: (1) successful estoppel cases; (2) unsuccessful estoppel cases; and (3) irrelevant estoppel cases.