Promise
Encyclopedia
A promise is a commitment by someone to do or not do something.
In the law of contract
, an exchange of promises is usually held to be legally enforceable, according to the Latin maxim pacta sunt servanda
.
and an affirmation
can be a promise. One special kind of promise is the vow
.
A notable type of promise is an election promise
.
In contract law, a promise is a manifestation of intention to act or refrain from acting in a specified way . It is so made as to justify a promisee in understanding that a commitment has been made. The person manifesting the intention is the promiser. The person to whom the manifestation is addressed is the promisee. Where performance of the promise is assumed to benefit a person other than the promisee, that person is a beneficiary. But in contract law, the word promise is commonly used to refer to promises which result in the promiser's word justifying expectations of performance from which a legal duty will arise in term of results. For instance, A orally agrees to sell land to B. This is an offer. B agrees to buy the land and pays $1000 to A. This is an acceptance of the offer. If the land did not legally belong to A, his is a fraud and B is legally expected to recover his $1000 By virtue of this indirect recognition of the duty to convey promise accurately, the agreement is a contract.If the promise is obviously misunderstood, the contract is void. Some say that the contract is a promise for a promise.
Oath:
Individuals that take oaths should be honest and sincere about their statement or goal and be committed to fulfil a specified oath. Reference: Buetow, A. S., Adams, P. (2010)"Oath-taking: A divine prescription for health-related behaviour change?" Medical Hypotheses. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.06.035
My friend promised to do as I say.
My stepfather promised not to be cruel to me. -Cinderella
as a witness. A vow is a solemn form of a promise typically made to commit oneself to a moral good with God as witness, and binds oneself to its fulfillment over time.
Some groups of Christians, such as the Religious Society of Friends
and the Mennonite
s, object to the taking of both oaths and affirmations, basing their objections upon a commandment given in the Sermon on the Mount
, and regard all promises to be witnessed by God.
See also biblical covenants
and biblical alliance.
, god forbids Muslim
s to break their promises after they have confirmed them. All promises are regarded as having Allah as their witness and guarantor. In the Hadith
, the Prophet
states that a Muslim who made a promise and then saw a better thing to do, should do the better thing and then make an act of atonement for breaking the promise.
argue that promises should be broken whenever doing so would yield benefits. In How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time, Iain King tried to reconcile these positions, suggesting that promises should be kept 'unless they are worth less to others than a new option is to you,' and that this requires a relevant, unforeseen and reasonably unforeseeable change in the situation more important than the promise itself arising after the promise is made.
In the law of contract
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
, an exchange of promises is usually held to be legally enforceable, according to the Latin maxim pacta sunt servanda
Pacta sunt servanda
Pacta sunt servanda , is a brocard, a basic principle of civil law and of international law.In its most common sense, the principle refers to private contracts, stressing that contained clauses are law between the parties, and implies that nonfulfilment of respective obligations is a breach of the...
.
Types
Both an oathOath
An oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...
and an affirmation
Affirmation in law
In law, an affirmation is a solemn declaration allowed to those who conscientiously object to taking an oath. An affirmation has exactly the same legal effect as an oath, but is usually taken to avoid the religious implications of an oath...
can be a promise. One special kind of promise is the vow
Vow
A vow is a promise or oath.-Marriage vows:Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a wedding ceremony. Marriage customs have developed over history and keep changing as human society develops...
.
A notable type of promise is an election promise
Election promise
An election promise is a promise made to the public by a politician who is trying to win an election. They have long been a central element of elections and remain so today...
.
In contract law, a promise is a manifestation of intention to act or refrain from acting in a specified way . It is so made as to justify a promisee in understanding that a commitment has been made. The person manifesting the intention is the promiser. The person to whom the manifestation is addressed is the promisee. Where performance of the promise is assumed to benefit a person other than the promisee, that person is a beneficiary. But in contract law, the word promise is commonly used to refer to promises which result in the promiser's word justifying expectations of performance from which a legal duty will arise in term of results. For instance, A orally agrees to sell land to B. This is an offer. B agrees to buy the land and pays $1000 to A. This is an acceptance of the offer. If the land did not legally belong to A, his is a fraud and B is legally expected to recover his $1000 By virtue of this indirect recognition of the duty to convey promise accurately, the agreement is a contract.If the promise is obviously misunderstood, the contract is void. Some say that the contract is a promise for a promise.
Oath:
Individuals that take oaths should be honest and sincere about their statement or goal and be committed to fulfil a specified oath. Reference: Buetow, A. S., Adams, P. (2010)"Oath-taking: A divine prescription for health-related behaviour change?" Medical Hypotheses. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.06.035
Examples
My friend promised me she would be there for my birthday.My friend promised to do as I say.
My stepfather promised not to be cruel to me. -Cinderella
Conditional commitment
In loan guarantees, a commitment requires to meet an equity commitment, as well as other conditions, before the loan guarantee is closed.Christianity
In Christianity, a distinction is made between simple promises and oaths or vows. An oath is a promise invoking GodGod
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
as a witness. A vow is a solemn form of a promise typically made to commit oneself to a moral good with God as witness, and binds oneself to its fulfillment over time.
Some groups of Christians, such as the Religious Society of Friends
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
and the Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
s, object to the taking of both oaths and affirmations, basing their objections upon a commandment given in the Sermon on the Mount
Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
, and regard all promises to be witnessed by God.
See also biblical covenants
Covenant (biblical)
A biblical covenant is an agreement found in the Bible between God and His people in which God makes specific promises and demands. It is the customary word used to translate the Hebrew word berith. It it is used in the Tanakh 286 times . All Abrahamic religions consider the Biblical covenant...
and biblical alliance.
Islam
In An-NahlAn-Nahl
Sura An-Nahl is the 16th. sura of the Qur'an, with 128 verses. Its name means "the bees".-Summary:This sura warns against polytheism, saying that the pagan gods cannot create anything , and against comparisons between Allah and any created beings . It also praises Allah for giving the Earth with...
, god forbids Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s to break their promises after they have confirmed them. All promises are regarded as having Allah as their witness and guarantor. In the Hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
, the Prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
states that a Muslim who made a promise and then saw a better thing to do, should do the better thing and then make an act of atonement for breaking the promise.
Philosophy
Philosophers have tried to establish rules for promises. Immanual Kant suggesed promises should always be kept, while some consequentialistsConsequentialism
Consequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness of that conduct...
argue that promises should be broken whenever doing so would yield benefits. In How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time, Iain King tried to reconcile these positions, suggesting that promises should be kept 'unless they are worth less to others than a new option is to you,' and that this requires a relevant, unforeseen and reasonably unforeseeable change in the situation more important than the promise itself arising after the promise is made.