Statute of Frauds 1695

STATUTE OF FRAUDS 1695

CHAPTER XII.

An Act for Prevention of Frauds and Perjuries.

29 C. 2. 3.

Eng.

Parol leases and interests in lands shall have the force of estates at will only. Except leases not above three years, where two thirds of the full improved value reserved. No estate or interest (not being copyhold or customary) in land shall be assigned, granted or surrendered, unless by writing signed, or by act of law.

FOR prevention of many fraudulent practices which are commonly endeavoured to be upheld by perjury, and subornation of perjury; be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal and the commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the feast day of the nativity of St. John Baptist, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred ninety-six, all leases, estates, interests, freeholds or terms of years, or any uncertain interest of, into, or out of any messuages, mannors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments made and created by livery of seizen only, or by parole, and not put in writing, and signed by the parties so making and creating the same, or their agents thereunto lawfully authorized by writing, shall have the force and effect of leases and estates at will only; and shall not either in law or equity be deemed or taken to have any other or greater force and effect; any consideration for making such parole leases or estates, or any former law or usage, to the contrary notwithstanding; except nevertheless all leases not exceeding the term of three years from the making thereof, whereupon the rent reserved to the landlord, during such terms, shall amount unto two third parts at the least of the full improved value of the thing demised: and moreover, that no estates, leases, or interests, either of freehold, or term of years, or any uncertain interest, not being copy-hold or customary interest, of, into, or out of any messuages, lands, tenements or hereditaments, shall at any time after the said feast day of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, which shall be in the said year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred ninety and six, be assigned, granted, or surrendered, unless it be by deed or note in writing, signed by the parties so assigning, granting or surrendering the same, or their agents thereunto lawfully authorized by writing, or by act and operation of law. [Rep., so far as it refers to the relation of landlord and tenant, but not otherwise, 23 & 24 Vict. c. 154. s. 104.]

Executor or administrator not to be charged upon special promise out of his own estate, or defendant upon special promise for debt, &c. of another, or upon agreement on consideration of marriage, or contract or sale of lands, or any agreement not to be performed in a year, unless in writing and signed.

II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the said feast day of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, which shall be in the said year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and ninety-six, no action shall be brought whereby to charge any executor or administrator upon any special promise, to answer damages out of his own estate, or whereby to charge the defendant upon any special promise to answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of another person, or to charge any person upon any agreement made upon consideration of marriage, or upon any contract or sale of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any interest in or concerning them, or upon any agreement that is not to be performed within the space of one year from the making thereof, unless the agreement upon which such action shall be brought, or some memorandum or note thereof, shall be in writing, and signed by the party to be charged therewith, or some other person there-unto by him lawfully authorized.

Devises of land must be in writing and signed, and attested and subscribed by three witnesses in devisor's presence.

25 G. 2. 11.

III.(a ) And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the said feast day of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, which shall be in the said year of our Lord one thousand six hundred ninety and six, all devises and bequests of any lands, tenements or hereditaments, devisable, either by force of the statute of wills, or by this statute, or by force of the custom of any burrough, or any other particular custom, shall be in writing, and signed by the party so devising the same, or by some other person in his presence, and by his express directions, and shall be attested and subscribed in the presence of the said devisor, by three or more credible witnesses, or else they shall be utterly void and of none effect: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [Rep., save as to wills made before 1st January 1838, 7 Will. 4. & 1 Vict. c. 26. ss. 2, 34.]

Declarations or creations of trusts of lands shall be in writing and signed, or by last will in writing.

Explained by 6 Anne 10.

IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the said feast day of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, which shall be in the said year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred ninety and six, all declarations or creations of any trusts or confidences of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, shall be manifested and proved by some writing signed by the party who is by law enabled to declare such trust, or by his last will in writing, or else they shall be utterly void and of none effect.

Not to extend to trusts arising by implication, or transferred or extinguished by act of law.

V. Provided always, that where any conveyance shall be made of any lands or tenements, by which a trust or confidence shall or may arise by implication or construction of law, or to be transferred or extinguished by act or operation of law, then, and in every such case, such trust or confidence shall be of the like force and effect as the same would have been if this statute had not been made; any thing herein before contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

Grants and assignments of trusts shall be in writing signed, or by such last will.

VI. And be it further enacted, That all grants and assignments of any trust or confidence shall likewise be in writing, signed by the party granting or assigning the same, or by such last will and devise, or else shall likewise be utterly void and of none effect.

Lands, &c. in trust, may be delivered in execution upon judgments, &c. as if cest. q' trust in possession,

and held free from incumbrances of those seised in trust.

Trust in feesim. descending to heir of cestuy q' trust, assets; and chargeable with obligation of ancestor, as if the estate descended in possession.

VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the said feast day of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, which shall be in the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred and ninety-six, it shall and may be lawful for every sheriff, or other officer, to whom any precept or writ is or shall be directed at the suite of any person or persons of, for, and upon any judgment, statute or recognizance hereafter to be made, or had, to do, make, and deliver execution unto the party in that behalf sueing, of all such lands, tenements, rectories, tyths, rents, and hereditaments, as any other person or persons be in any manner of wise seized or possessed in trust for him, against whom execution is so sued, like as the sheriff or other officer might or ought to have done, if the said party against whom execution hereafter shall be so sued had been seized of such lands, tenements, rectories, tyths, rents, or other hereditaments of such estate as they be seized of in trust for him at the time of the said execution sued; which lands, tenements, rectories, tyths, rents, or other hereditaments, by force and vertue of such executions shall accordingly be held and enjoyed, freed, and discharged from all incumbrances of such person or persons, as shall be so seized or possessed in trust for the person against whom such execution shall be sued: and if any cestuyque trust hereafter shall dye, leaving a trust in fee-simple to descend to his heirs, there and in every such case, such trust shall be deemed and taken, and is hereby declared to be, assets by descent, and the heir shall be lyable to and chargeable with the obligation of his ancestor for or by reason of such assets, as fully and amply as he might and ought to have been, if the estate in law had descended to him in possesion, in like manner as the trust descended; any law, custom, or usage to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.

But heir not chargeable out of his own estate by reason of any plea, &c.

VIII. Provided always, That no heir who shall become chargeable by reason of any estate or trust made assetts in his hands by this law, shall by reason of any kind of plea, or confession of the action, or suffering judgment by Nient de dire, or any other matter, be chargeable to pay the condemnation out of his own estate, but execution shall be sued of the whole estate so made assetts in his hands by descent, in whose hands soever it shall come after the writ purchased, in the same manner as it is to be at and by the common law, where the heir at law pleading a true plea, judgment is prayed against him thereupon; any thing in this present act contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

[IX.(a )] *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Mischievous to purchasers that judgments signed in vacation should relate to first day of the term, &c.

Day of signing judgments shall without fee be set down upon the record, and entered upon the margent of the roll,

X. And whereas it hath been found mischievous, that judgments in the King's courts at Dublin do many times relate to the first day of the term whereof they are entred, or to the day of the return of the original, or fileing the bail, and bind the defendants lands from that time, although in truth they were acknowledged, or suffered, or signed in the vacation-time after the said term, whereby many times purchasers find themselves aggrieved: be it enacted therefore by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the said feast-day of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, which shall be in the said year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred ninety-six, any judge or officer in his Majesty's courts at Dublin, that shall sign any judgment, shall at the signing of the same, without fee for so doing of the same, set down the day of the month and year of his so doing, upon the paper, book, docket, or record, which he shall sign; which day of the month and year shall be also entered upon the margent of the roll of the record where the said judgment shall be entered.

and by 3 G. 2. 7. the day on which brought to be entered. and as against purchasers shall be judgments from time of signing only.

XI. And be it enacted, That such judgments as against purchasers, bona fide, for valuable considerations of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, to be charged thereby, shall, in consideration of law, be judgments only from such time as they shall be so signed, and shall not relate to the first day of the term whereof they are entred, or the day of the return of the original, or fileing the bail; any law, or usage, or course of any court, to the contrary notwithstanding.

3 G. 2. 7.

Writs of execution shall bind property of goods but from the time of delivery of the writ to officer, who shall endorse the day of receiving it.

XII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the said feast-day of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, which shall be in the said year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred ninety and six, no writ of fier. fac. or other writ of execution shall bind the property of the goods of the party against whom such writ of execution is sued forth, but from the time such writ shall be delivered to the sheriff, under-sheriff, or coroner to be executed: and for the better manifestation of the said time, the sheriff, under-sheriff, and coroners, their deputies and agents, shall upon the receipt of any such writ, without fee for doing the same, endorse upon the backside thereof the day of the month and year whereon he or they received the same.

No contract for sale of goods for 10l. allowed unless buyer actually receive part, or give earnest, or in part payment, or that some note in writing signed by the parties.

XIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the said feast-day of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, which shall be in the said year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred and ninety-six, no contract for the sale of any goods, wares, or merchandizes, for the price of ten pounds sterl. or upwards, shall be allowed to be good, except the buyer shall accept part of the goods so sold, and actually receive the same, or give something in earnest to bind the bargain, or in part of payment, or that some note or memorandum in writing of the said bargain be made and signed by the parties to be charged by such contract, or their agents thereunto lawfully authorized.(a)

Day of inrolment of recognisances shall be set down in margent of the roll, and lands in hands of purchasers bound from that time only.

XIV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the day of the month and year of the inrolment of the recognizances, shall be set down in the margent of the roll where the said recognizances are inrolled; and that from and after the said feast-day of St. John the Baptist, which shall be in the said year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred and ninety-six, no recognizances shall bind any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, in the hands of any purchaser bona fide, and for valuable consideration, but from the time of such inrolment; any law, usage, or course of any court, to the contrary notwithstanding.

(b) *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Wills of personal estates by soldiers and seamen in actual service excepted.

Jurisdiction of courts for probates of wills concerning personal estates saved.

XIX. Provided always, That notwithstanding this act, any soldier being in actual military service, or any mariner or seaman being at sea, may dispose of his moveables, wages, and personal estate, as he or they might have done before the making of this act. [7 Will. 4. & 1 Vict. c. 26. s. 11.]

XX. And it is hereby declared, That nothing in this act shall extend to alter or change the jurisdiction or rights of probates of wills concerning personal estates, but that the prerogative court of the archbishop of Armagh, and other ecclesiastical courts, and other courts having right to the probate of such wills, shall retain the same right and power as they had before in every respect; subject nevertheless to the rules and directions of this act.

[1 (a) The omitted part of this section, enacting that no devise in writing of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, shall be revocable otherwise than by some other will or codicil in writing, or other writing declaring the same, or by burning, cancelling, tearing, or obliterating the same, by the testator himself or in his presence, and by his directions and consent, is repealed by section 2 of the Wills Act.]

[1 (a) Section nine, enacting that an estate pur autre vie shall be devisable; and if not devised shall be chargeable in the lands of the heir as assets by descent, or of the executors or administrators, is repealed by section 2 of the Wills Act.]

[(a) The authorised edition has “or other agents thereunto lawfully authorised.” The mistake has been corrected after comparison of the Statute Roll.]

[(b) The omitted sections, 15–18, relate to nuncupative wills, and are rep., 7 Will. 4. & 1 Vict. c. 26. s. 2.]