CHAPTER XX.

 

OF THE PREVENTION OF FRUDS AND PERJURIES IN CONTRACTS, AND IN ACTIONS FOUNDED THEREON.

 

§1053.  No action shall be brought and maintained in any of the following cases:

 

First:  To charge an executor or administrator, upon any special promise to answer damages out of his own estate;

 

Second:  To charge any person upon any special promise to answer for the debt, default or misdoings of another;

 

Third:  To charge any person, upon an agreement made in consideration of marriage;

 

Fourth:  Upon any contract for the sale of lands, tenements or hereditaments, or of any interest in or concerning them;

 

Fifth:  Upon any agreement that is not to be performed within one year from the making thereof;

 

Unless the promise, contract or agreement, upon which such actions shall be brought, or some memorandum or note thereof, shall be in writing, and be signed by the party to be charged therewith, or by some person thereunto by him lawfully authorized.

 

§1054.  The consideration of any such promise, contract or agreement, need not be set forth, or expressed, in the writing signed by the party to be charged therewith, but may be proved by any other legal evidence.

 

§1055.  No action shall be brought and maintained, to charge any person upon, or by reason of, any representation or assurance, made concerning the character, conduct, credit, ability, trade or dealings of any other person, unless such representation or assurance shall be made in writing, and signed by the party to be charged thereby, or by some person, thereunto by him lawfully authorized.

 

§1056.  No contract for the sale of any goods, wares or merchandise, for the price of one hundred dollars or more, shall be allowed to be good, unless the purchaser 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 payment, or some note or memorandum, in writing, or the said bargain be made and signed by the party to be charged by such contract, or by his agent, thereunto by him lawfully authorized.

 

§1057.  When any person, who is bound by a contract in writing to convey any real estate, shall die before making the conveyance, the other party may have a bill in equity in the Supreme Court, to enforce a specific performance of the contract by the heirs, devisees, or by the executor or administrator of the deceased party, such bill to be filed within one year after the grand of administration.

 

§1058.  The court shall hear and decide every such case, according to the proceedings in chancery, and shall make such decree therein, as justice and equity may require.

 

§1059.  If it shall appear that the plaintiff is entitled to have a deed of conveyance, the court may authorize and require the executor or administrator of the deceased party, to convey the estate in like manner as the deceased person might and out to have done, if living; and if his heirs or devisees, or any of them are within the Kingdom, and competent to act, the court may direct them or any of them, instead of the executor or administrator, to convey the estate in the manner before mentioned, or to join with the executor or administrator in such conveyance.

 

§1060.  Every conveyance made in pursuance of such decree, shall be effectual to pass the estate contracted for, as fully as if made by the contractor himself.

 

§1061.  If the defendant in such suit shall neglect or refuse to make a conveyance according to the decree, the court may enter judgment, that the plaintiff shall recover judgment for possession of the land contracted for, to hold according to the terms of the intended conveyance, and may issue a writ of seizing thereupon; and the plaintiff, by force of said writ, having obtained possession of the premises, shall hold the same in like manner, as if conveyed in pursuance of the decree.

 

§1062.  The preceding section shall not prevent the court from enforcing their decree, by any other process, according to chancery proceedings.

 

§1063.  If the person to whom the conveyance was to be made, shall die before such suit is brought, or before the conveyance is completed, any person, who would be entitled to the estate under him as heir, devisee or otherwise, in case the conveyance had been made according to the contract, may commence such suit, or prosecute it, if commenced; and the conveyance shall thereupon be so made, as to vest the estate in the same persons, who would have been so entitled to it.

 

§1064.  If the party, to whom any such conveyance was to be made, or those claiming under him, shall not commence a suit, as before provided, and if the heirs of the deceased party are under age, or otherwise incompetent to convey the lands contracted for, the executor or administrator of the deceased may file a bill in equity in the Supreme Court, setting forth the contract and the circumstances of the case, whereupon the court may, by its decree, authorize and require such executor or administrator to convey the estate, in the manner the deceased should have done; and such a conveyance shall be deemed a performance of the contract on the part of the deceased, and sufficient to entitle his heirs, executors or administrators, to demand a performance thereof on his part.

 

 

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