The Statute of Fraud Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Statute of Fraud - Essay Example The Wikipedia definition further explains that traditionally a Statue of Fraud has been required in circumstances where the contract relates to Marriage, or cannot be performed within one year, or where it concerns transfer of interests in land, or where it relates to a contract by the executor of a will to pay a debt of an estate with their own money, contracts for the sale of goods above a certain value and finally in contracts where one party becomes a surety or acts as a guarantor. In the Free Dictionary by Farlex, the Statue of Fraud is described as a type of state law that was modeled after an old English Law. This further goes on to add the Statue of Fraud has been adopted by the US from English Law dating back to the year 1677. This US Law acts as a defense in a breach of contract lawsuit. "This has been designed to prevent the possibility of a nonexistent agreement between two parties being proved by perjury or fraud". Therefore, under this law, it is necessary that a writte n note or memorandum of agreement be drawn up if a particular contract is to be enforced. Simply said, that Statue of Fraud ensures that a written agreement exists between two parties in certain types of contracts described previously in this paragraph. Larson (2003) has described that the Statue of Fraud requires that certain contracts be in writing and that they are to be signed by all parties to be bound by the contract. Contracts involving the sale or transfer of land, contract to answer for the debt or duty of another and contract by its term which cannot be completed within a year and the contract for the sale of goods under the uniform commercial code fall under the category of the Statue of Fraud. The origins of the Statue of Fraud can be traced back to 1677 and to the English Statutory law passed during the said period. The Statue of Fraud was established with intentions to prevent injury from fraudulent conduct. Stuckey (2003) has related the statute of fraud to the presen t era of the information age and said "It is important to note at the outset that the Statute of Frauds is one of the most important legal issues for electronic contracting. The Statute of Frauds designates which types of contracts are not enforceable unless memorialized in a signed writing. Most states have enacted some version of the Statute of Frauds, either in its common law or Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) forms". This highlights the importance of the Statute of Frauds and its relevance to the modern day where a bulk of the contracting may be done using the electronic media. According to Raysman, Pisacreta, Adler, and Seth (1999), "Both the UCC and UCITA require a signed writing or in UCITA's terms, an authenticated, record in connection with agreements beyond those specified by the common law. For instance, the UCC imposes the requirement on contracts for the sale of goods of a price of $500 or more of for lease contracts whose total payments are $1,000 or more while UCITA requires an authenticated record of contracts requiring payment of a contract fee of $5,000 or more".