Editing Contracts/Statute of frauds
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These 6 types of contracts are remembered using the mnemonic <span style="background:yellow">MY LEGS</span>. | These 6 types of contracts are remembered using the mnemonic <span style="background:yellow">MY LEGS</span>. | ||
In an action for [[specific performance]] of a contract to convey land, the agreement must be in writing to satisfy the statute of frauds. The statute is satisfied if the contract to convey is evidenced by a writing or writings containing the essential terms of a purchase and sale agreement and signed by the party against whom the contract is to be enforced. If there is no written agreement, a court of equity can specifically enforce an oral agreement to convey only if the part performance doctrine is satisfied. In most jurisdictions, part performance is proven when the purchaser pays the purchase price, has possession of the land and makes improvements on the land, all with the permission of the seller. No jurisdiction is satisfied by payment of the purchase price alone.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170511090326/http://www.cs.xu.edu/~osborn/main/lawSchool/contractsHtml/bottomScreens/Briefs/Restatement%20129.%20Action%20in%20Reliance;%20Specific%20Performance.htm Restatement (Second) of the Law of Contracts Β§ 129]. American Law Institute.</ref> | In an action for [[specific performance]] of a contract to convey land, the agreement must be in writing to satisfy the statute of frauds. The statute is satisfied if the contract to convey is evidenced by a writing or writings containing the essential terms of a purchase and sale agreement and signed by the party against whom the contract is to be enforced. If there is no written agreement, a court of equity can specifically enforce an oral agreement to convey only if the part performance doctrine is satisfied. In most jurisdictions, part performance is proven when the purchaser pays the purchase price, has possession of the land and makes improvements on the land, all with the permission of the seller. No jurisdiction is satisfied by payment of the purchase price alone.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170511090326/http://www.cs.xu.edu:80/~osborn/main/lawSchool/contractsHtml/bottomScreens/Briefs/Restatement%20129.%20Action%20in%20Reliance;%20Specific%20Performance.htm Restatement (Second) of the Law of Contracts Β§ 129]. American Law Institute.</ref> | ||
Under [[common law]], the statute of frauds also applies to contract modifications. For example, in an oral agreement for the lease of a car for nine months, immediately after taking possession, the lessor then decides that he really likes the car and makes an oral offer to the lessee to extend the term of the lease by an additional six months. Although neither agreement alone comes under the statute of frauds, the oral extension modifies the original contract to make it a fifteen-month lease (nine months plus the additional six), thereby bringing it under the statute as the contract now exceeds twelve months in duration. In theory, the same principle works in reverse as well, such that an agreement to reduce a lease from fifteen months to nine months would not require a writing. However, many jurisdictions have enacted statutes that require a writing for such situations. | Under [[common law]], the statute of frauds also applies to contract modifications. For example, in an oral agreement for the lease of a car for nine months, immediately after taking possession, the lessor then decides that he really likes the car and makes an oral offer to the lessee to extend the term of the lease by an additional six months. Although neither agreement alone comes under the statute of frauds, the oral extension modifies the original contract to make it a fifteen-month lease (nine months plus the additional six), thereby bringing it under the statute as the contract now exceeds twelve months in duration. In theory, the same principle works in reverse as well, such that an agreement to reduce a lease from fifteen months to nine months would not require a writing. However, many jurisdictions have enacted statutes that require a writing for such situations. | ||
