23 Ala. 676 | Ala. | 1853
On the above stated facts ihe court below' charged the jury, that they must find for the defendant. The court, doubtless, gave this charge under the impression that the contract which the proof tended to establish was within our statute of frauds, and therefore void unless the same was in writing; and the question now presented is, whether said contract is within the statute of frauds or not.
It will be observed that our statute, in its terms, is somewhat more restricted than that of the English statute. The language of our act is, “or upon any contract for the sale of lands, tenements or hereditaments,” whilst the English statute has super-added the words or any “interest therein.” These latter words, it is conceived, render the statute much breader in its terms than it would be without them. Hence it is, that a certain class of cases in England upon this statute, and in New York where the English statute has in terms been adopted, do not apply to cases in this State, as many contracts are clearly within the terms of those statutes (being for or concerning an interest in lands, tenements or hereditaments) which would not be within the terms of ours.
This remark is particularly true of the case of Howard v. Easton, 7 Johns. 205, and of Kelly v. Webster, 10 Eng. Law and Equity R. 517. We need not now decide whether or not
Our conclusion, therefore is, that the court below erred in its charge to the jury; and the judgment is therefore reversed and the cause remanded.