39 Iowa 406 | Iowa | 1874
I. The first question made by the demurrer is, whether the contract, upon which the cross claim is based, comes within our statute of frauds, which provides, Rev., Sec. 4006-7, subdivision 5, that no evidence is competent, unless in writing, of a contract “ that is not to be performed within one year from the making, thereof.” Code of 1873, Sec. 3663-4, is the same, and' the language is almost identical with the original statute of frauds of 29 Car. II. The authorities upon the question are not in perfect harmony, so far at least as respects their language or form of expression. The leading ease of Peter v. Compton, Skinner, 353, s. c. 1 Smith’s L. C., 143, was decided within a few years after the enactment of the original statute of 29 Car. II., and is stated in the head note as follows: “‘An agreement that is not to be performed within one year from the making thereof’ means, in the stat
■ It is not sufficient to bring it within the statute, that the parties manifestly intended to occupy more than a year in its performance, or that it is difficult to so perform, or improbable that it can be performed within that time, so long as the right to perform it within the year remains, and it is possible to do it. In other words,-to be within the statute, the contract itself must show from the nature of its subject matter, by its express terms, or by its necessary implication, that its performance within the year is forbidden — it must show that it is not to be performed. The statute does not require that the contract must be performed within the year, but it requires that the contract shall show that it must not be performed in order to render it invalid. In this case, there is nothing in 'the contract alleged in the cross claim, which shows that it was not to be performed within a year, how difficult-or improbable soever its performance within that time might have been. It is, therefore, not within the statute.
Beversed.