Due to continuing interest of legal community to the problematic of preventing contradictory behavior or in the Anglo-American legal tradition – estoppel, the subject of this research is an attempt of determination of legal nature of the so-called norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on estoppel. The selected topic is relevant due to the fact that there is no unanimity of opinions regarding the nature of estoppel; it is viewed as interdisciplinary principle, doctrine, institution of law, sanction for violation of the principle of good faith, one of the manifestations of the principle of good faith, legal mechanisms etc. An attempt is made to view estoppel from different perspectives: through the prism of the English promissory stopper, from the position of continental maxim “venire contra factum proprium", in relation with the principle of good faith. The conclusion is made that the so-called norms on estoppel in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation represent a special case of the doctrine of noncontradictory behavior, known to the continental legal order through the maxim “venire contra factum proprium", which is a manifestation of the principle of good faith. Based on this fact, it is inappropriate to designate the aforementioned norms as estoppel, since even in Anglo-American tradition, the variety of estoppels does not allow considering it a universal principle, and understanding of estoppel thereof does not correspond with its Russian interpretation. Moreover, being a part of Romano-Germanic legal family, there is no need for the Russian legal order to borrow foreign legal phenomena, especially when the evolution of similar legal constructs can be traced in the fold of continental system of law, which Russia belongs to.