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For other uses, see Promise (disambiguation).

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.

Contents [hide] 1 Types of promise 2 Examples of promises 3 Conditional commitment 4 Religion 4.1 Christianity 4.2 Islam 5 See also 6 References 7 Notes

[edit] Types of promise

Both an oath 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.

[edit] Examples of promises

My friend promised me she would be there for my birthday.

My friend promised to do as I say.

[edit] Conditional commitment

In loan guarantees, a commitment requires to meet an equity commitment, as well as other conditions, before the loan guarantee is closed.

[edit] Religion

Religions have similar attitudes towards promises.

[edit] Christianity

Main article: Oath

In Christianity, a distinction is made between simple promises and oaths or vows. An oath is a promise invoking God as a witness.^[1] 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.^[2]

Some groups of Christians, such as the Religious Society of Friends and the Mennonites, 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.

[edit] Islam

In An-Nahl, God forbids Muslims 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• Contract law
• Asmachta
• Documentality

[edit] References

• Plato, The Republic (ca 370 BC) Book I, 33IB
• Cicero, De Officiis (ca 20 BC) I, C. IO, III, cc. 24-25
• Decretales of Gregory IX lib. II, tit. 26, C. 27, canon law did not enforce all promises
• Reinach, The Apriorischen Grundlagen des Bürgerlichen Rechtes (1922) §§ 2-4, that all rational societies need to have some way of making promises binding

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Bunson, Matthew (2010). Catholic Almanac 2010. Our Sunday Visitor. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-59276-614-7. 
2. ^ Bunson, op. cit. p.160

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