The Statute of Frauds (29 Cha. 2. c. 3) (1677) is an act of the Parliament of England. In its original form it required that certain types of contracts, wills, and grants, and assignment or surrender of leases or interest in real property must be in writing and signed to avoid fraud on the court by perjury and the subornation of perjury. It also required that documents of the courts be signed and dated. Today it is mostly repealed; only section 4 remains, which is about guarantors.
History
The attested date for the enactment of the Statute of Frauds is 16 April 1677 (New Style). The act is believed to have been primarily drafted by Lord Nottingham assisted by Sir Matthew Hale, Sir Francis North and Sir Leoline Jenkins. In The Statutes of the Realm published in 1818, the Statute of Frauds was divided into 24 sections. The section on the sale of goods became section 16. This article uses the same numbering system as the Statutes of the Realm.
Almost all of the statute has been repealed, leaving a line of introductory text and an amended section 4.
Real property
Section 1 provides that all leases, estates, and interest in freehold or term of years created by livery and seisin or parole not in writing signed by the maker shall have the effect as an estate of lease at will.
Section 2 excepts from section 1 all leases not exceeding three years in term where rent equals two thirds of the value of the improved land.
Section 3 provides that all leases, estates, and interest in freehold or term of years assigned granted or surrendered must be by deed or note in writing signed by the grantor or his agent or by operation of law.
Section 7 provides that all conveyances in trusts of land must be in writing signed by the maker or by will.
Section 9 provides that all grants and assignments of trusts in land must be in writing signed by the grantor or by will.
Section 8 excepts from section 7 and 9 trusts that arise or result by implication of construction of law i.e. resulting trusts and constructive trusts.
Sections 1 to 3 and 7 to 9 and 24 were repealed by section 207 of, and Schedule 7 to, the Law of Property Act 1925 (15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 20). However section 53(1)(a) required that interest in land be created or disposed by a signed writing, a will or operation of law. Section 53(1)(b) requires a declaration of trust in land must be by a signed writing or a will and section 53(1)(c) requires the same disposition of equitable interests and existing trusts. Section 52(2) state that section 53 does not affect the creation or operation of implied, resulting or constructive trusts. Section 54 provides interests in land created by parol and not put in writing and signed have the force and effect of interests at will only except that the lease for 3 years or less at the best rent may be made by parol.
Section 4
Section 4 of the Statute of Frauds originally provided that an action may not be brought on the following types of contracts unless there is a written note or memorandum signed by the party being charged or a person authorized by them:
- Contracts by the executor of a will to pay a debt of the estate with his own money.
- Contracts in which one party becomes a surety (acts as guarantor) for another party's debt or other obligation.
- Contracts in consideration of marriage.
- Contracts for the transfer of an interest in land.
- Contracts that cannot be performed within one year.
This section now provides that contracts of guarantee (surety for another's debt) are unenforceable unless evidenced in writing. This requirement is subject to section 3 of the Mercantile Law Amendment Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c.. 97) which provides that the consideration for the guarantee need not appear in writing or by necessary inference from a written document.
Section 6 of the Statute of Frauds Amendment Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 14) (commonly known as Lord Tenterden's Act) was enacted to prevent clause 2 section 4 being circumvented by bringing an action for the tort of deceit (the tort in Freeman v. Palsey).
In this section, the words "or upon any contract or sale of lands, tenements or hereditaments or any interest in or concerning them" were repealed by section 207 of, and Schedule 7 to, the Law of Property Act 1925 (15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 20). However the requirement that contract for sale of land must be in writing was continued by section 40 of that act. Section 40 of the Law of Property Act 1925 was repealed by sections 2(8) and 4 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989; however, section 2 of that act requires that contracts for the sale of land be signed and in writing.
All the clauses except the one relating to surety contracts were repealed by section 1 of the Law Reform (Enforcement of Contracts) Act 1954 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 34).
This section does not apply (if it would otherwise do so) in relation to a financial collateral arrangement.
In 1937, the Law Revision Committee recommended that this section be repealed.
Court procedure
Sections 10 and 11 of the act dealt with the execution of judgments upon equitable interests of cestui que trust in land and held free from the incumbrances of the persons seized in trust.
Sections 13 and 14 of the act provide that the effective date for judgments against bona fide purchasers for value of land is the date they are docketed and requiring that judgments of the courts enter the date docketed when signing it without a fee.
Section 15 of the act provided that fieri facias or other writs of execution are effective against goods from the date given it is given to the sheriff and the sheriff shall write on the back of it the day, month and year he received it without a fee.
Section 17 of the act provided that recognisances shall bind bona fide purchasers for value of land from the time they are enrolled and requiring that the day month and year of the recognisance be entered on the roll without a fee.
Section 23 of the act preserved the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts to probate wills in personal property subject to the rules of this statute. Court of Probate Act 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c. 77) transferred responsibility for the granting of probate from the ecclesiastical courts of England and Wales to a new civil Court of Probate in January 1858.
Section 24 of the act provided that the husband may be the administrator of the intestate estate of a married woman as before the Statute of Distribution (22 & 23 Cha. 2. c. 10).
Sections 13 and 14 of the act were repealed by part I of the schedule to the Civil Procedure Acts Repeal Act 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c 59).
Sections 15 of the act was repealed by the schedule to the Sale of Goods Act 1893, but section 26 that act continued the requirement that fieri facias or other writs of execution are effective against goods from when they are given to the sheriff and the sheriff shall endorse the writ with the date and time he received it.
Section 17 of the act was repealed by the schedule to the Statute Law Revision and Civil Procedure Act 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 59).
Sections 10 and 11 and 23 and 24 of the act, so far as unrepealed, were repealed by section 56 of, and part I of schedule 2 to the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 23). Section 24 of the act was also repealed by section 207 of, and schedule 7 to, the Law of Property Act 1925 (15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 20).
Section 16: Sales of goods
Section 16 provided that no contract for the sale of goods for the price of ten pounds sterling or more shall be good except if the buyer shall accept part of the goods and actually receive the same or give some thing in earnest to bind the bargain or in part of payment, or that some note or memorandum in writing of the said contract signed by the parties to be charged by such contract or their authorized agents. This section was amended by section 7 of the Statute of Frauds Amendment Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 14) to cover goods to be delivered in the future, not yet manufactured, or not yet fit for delivery.
Sections 15 and 16 was repealed by the schedule to the Sale of Goods Act 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 71), although section 16 was substantially re-enacted as section 4 of the 1893 act.
Section 4 of the Sales of Goods Act 1893 was itself repealed by section 2 of the Law Reform (Enforcement of Contracts) Act 1954. Legislation.gov.uk has this as sections 18 to 21 instead of 19 to 22.
Section 22 was repealed by Part VII of the Schedule to the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969 (c. 52). However section 11 of the Wills Act 1837 continues the right of Soldiers and Seamen to dispose of their personal estate as they had previously.
See also
- Statute of frauds
- Statute of Uses
- Statute of Wills
Notes
References
- Halsbury's Statutes,
External links
- Statute of Fraud 1677 as originally enacted