Statute of Frauds

Statute of Frauds

Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long title	An Act for prevention of Frauds and Perjuryes.[a]
Citation	29 Cha. 2. c. 3
Dates
Royal assent	16 April 1677
Commencement	24 June 1677 (OS)
Other legislation
Amended by	Administration of Intestates' Estate Act 1685
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Statute of Frauds (1677) as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Statute of Frauds^[b] (29 Cha. 2. c. 3) (1677) was an act of the Parliament of England. It required that certain types of contracts, wills, and grants, and assignment or surrender of leases or interest in real property must be in writing and signed to avoid fraud on the court by perjury and subornation of perjury. It also required that documents of the courts be signed and dated.

The attested date for the enactment of the Statute of Frauds is 16 April 1677 (New Style).^[1] The act is believed to have been primarily drafted by Lord Nottingham assisted by Sir Matthew Hale, Sir Francis North and Sir Leoline Jenkins.^{[1]: 334–42}

When the Statute of Frauds was originally enacted, its sections and the clauses within section 4 were not numbered. Numbers where added when the act was republished in the Statutes at Large. The Statute at Large, Cambridge Edition published in 1770 divided the act into 25 sections. The section on the sale of goods was section 17.^[2] In The Statutes of the Realm published in 1818, the Statute of Frauds was divided into 24 sections. The section on the sale of goods became section 16.^[3] This article uses the same numbering system as the Statutes of the Realm.

Almost all of the statute has been repealed, leaving a line of introductory text and an amended section 4.^[4]

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