FRAUDS, STATUTE OF. The name commonly given to the statute 29 Car. II. c. 3, entitled "An Act for the Prevention of Frauds and Perjuries." 2. The multifarious provisions of this cele brated statute appear to be distributed under the following heads. 1. The creation and transfer of estates in land, both legal and equitable, such as at common law could be effected by parol, i.e. without deed. 2. Cer tain cases of contracts which at common law could he validly made by oral agreement. 3, Additional •solemnities in cases of wills. 4. New liabilities imposed in respect of real estate held in trust. 5. The disposition of estatespur auter vie. 6. The entry and effect of judgments and executions. The first and second heads, however, comprise all that in the common professional use of the term is meant by the Statute of Frauds.
3. And they present this important fea ture, characterizing and distinguishing all the minor provisions which they both con tain, i.e. that whereas prior to their enact ment the law recognized only two great classes of contracts, conveyances, etc.,—those which were by deed and those which were by parol, including under the latter term alike what was written and what was oral,—these provisions introduced into the law a distinc tion between written parol and oral parol transactions, and rendered a writing neces sary for the valid performance of the matters to which they relate. Those matters are the following :—conveyances, leases, and sur renders of interests in lands; declarations of trusts of interests in lands ; special promises by executors or administrators to answer damages out of their own estate ; special promises to answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of another ; agreements made upon consideration of marriage ; contracts for the sale of lands, tenements, or heredita ments, or any interest in or concerning them ; agreements not to be performed within the apace of one year from the making thereof; contracts for the sale of goods, wares, and merchandise for the price of ten pounds ling or upwards. All these matters must be,
by the statute, put in writing, signed by the party to be charged, or his attorney.
4. In regard to contracts for the sale of goods, wares, and merchandise, the payment of earnest-money, or the acceptance and re ceipt of part of the goods, etc., dispenses with the written memorandum.
The substance of the statute, as regards the provisions above referred to, has been re enacted in almost all the states of the Union ; and in many of them, other points coming within the same general policy, but not em bodied in the original English statute, have been made the subject of more recent enact ments: as, for instance, the requirement of writing to hold a party upon a representation as to the character, credit, etc. of a third per son, which was provided in England by 9 Geo. IV. cap. 14, 6, commonly called Lord Ten terden's Act. The legislation of the different states on these matters will be found collected in the Appendix to Browne's Treatise on the Statute of Frauds.