Every contract, not in writing, made in respect to real estate or goods and chattels in consideration of marriage, or made for the conveyance or sale of real estate, or a term therein of more than five years, and, except as otherwise provided in § 8.2-402 of the Uniform Commercial Code, every bill of sale or contract for the sale of goods and chattels when the possession is allowed to remain with the seller, shall be void, both at law and in equity, as to purchasers for value and without notice and creditors; provided, however, that if any such contract or bill of sale as is mentioned in this section creates a security interest as defined in the Uniform Commercial Code, its validity and enforceability shall be governed by the provisions of that Code.
Va. Code Ann. § 11-1
Certain contracts void as to creditors and purchasers unless in writing; law governing validity of contracts creating security interests
Applied in 13 court decisions — leading case In Re Smith (1972)
Most recently applied in 16 F. Supp. 3d 676 - Maggard v. Essar Global Ltd. (April 2014)
Code 1919, § 5192; 1964, c. 314; 1966, c. 397.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Virginia Law Portal (LIS). Reproduced from public-domain Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.