Frauds

STATUTE OF. The celebrated statute of 29 Charles II. c. 3, passed A. D. 1677, otherwise called the Statute of Frauds and Perjuries; styled by an eminent commentator, "the most comprehensive, salutary and important legislative regulation on record, affecting the security of private rights."

2 Kent's Com. 494, note.

It is said to have been the joint production of Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Keeper Guilford, and Sir Leoline Jenkins. The chief object of passing this statute was to prevent the facility to frauds and the temptation to perjury held out by the enforcement of obligations depending for their evidence upon the unassisted memory of witnesses. Hence its leading feature is the requirement of some instrument or note in writing, signed by the parties to be charged, or their authorized agents, to render contracts, in certain specified cases, valid. See a summary of the provisions of this statute in 2 Kent's Commentaries, 494, note.

And see Smith on Contracts, 82, et seq.