Lesson Content and Commentary on Contract Form

The Statute of Frauds

To prevent a jury from finding the existence of an oral agreement alleging certain types of contracts, the British Parliament passed a Statute of Frauds in 1633. In a largely illiterate world, this legal requirement of a written document protected the social class with the great estates from fraudulent claims of an agreement to sell the land that insured the family’s status. The possibility of a jury of commoners being tricked into believing a story that one of the landed gentry had sold the family estate was too much to bear. The legislature enactment of the Statute of Frauds made clear then as it does today that the judge will grant a summary judgment against claims under certain contracts unless there is a signed writing to put before the court.

Today, every state of the United States has a statute of frauds. The requirement of a signed writing promotes a more deliberate and, hopefully, more thoughtful deliberation in negotiating the terms of a contract.

The nearly 400 year old requirement that contracts in consideration of marriage be written and signed has taken a new life with the rise of the pre-nuptial agreement. When these agreements are the product of thoughtful negotiations, modern courts give them the same deference of other written contracts.