CONTRACTS CONCERNING HORSES, ETC. 



Where neither 

 party can be 

 off. 



Striking a 



Contract not 

 to be per- 

 formed within 

 a year. 



Statute of 

 Frauds, s. 4. 



money ; 2ndly. The payment of the whole price, and then 

 if the seller do not deliver the horse, the buyer may sue 

 him, and recover it ; 3rdly. Part payment of the purchase- 

 money, and then the buyer may sue for and recover the 

 horse, or the seller may sue for the residue of the price ; 

 4thly. An earnest (k) may be given, and even the smallest 

 sum is sufficient, and in such case the remedies are reciprocal ; 

 5thly. An actual delivery of the horse, and even if there 

 be none of the purchase-money paid, no earnest given, or 

 no day set for payment, the seller may at any time sue the 

 buyer and recover his money. 



Where the price is under 10/., and the seller states what 

 he asks for his horse, and a buyer says he will give it, the 

 bargain is struck, and neither of them are at liberty to be 

 off, provided that immediate possession of the horse or the 

 money be tendered by either side (/). 



Anciently, among all the northern nations, shaking of 

 hands was held necessary to bind a bargain, a custom which 

 we still retain in many verbal contracts. A sale thus made 

 was called a hand sale, " venditio per mutuam manuum com- 

 plexionem " {m). This method of striking a bargain is very 

 much practised in the north of England at the present day, 

 both in horsedealing and other transactions ; and whatever 

 efficacy it may be supposed to have from custom in small 

 dealings, it certainly does not bind the bargain where the 

 horse is worth 10^. or upwards, or where the agreement is 

 not to be performed within a year. 



Where the contract for the sale or exchange of a horse 

 is not to be performed within a year, the agreement itself 

 or some memorandum or note of it must be in writing, and 

 be signed by the party to be charged or his agent, within 

 the 4th section of the Statute of Frauds (w). 



The words of the 4th section of the Statute of Frauds 

 applicable to a contract of this description are as follows : 

 "And be it enacted, that no action (o) shall be brought 

 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 thereunto by him lawfully authorized." 



(h) Earnest, post, p. 12. 

 (/) Cooper T. Andreivs, Hob. 41 ; 

 Noy's Max. c. 42 ; 2 Bla. Com. 447. 

 (m) 2 Bla. Com. 448. 



(«) 29 Car. 2, c. 3. 

 (o) Zcroux V. Mrown, 

 1021. 



16 Jur. 



