INTRODUCTION.

IT is perhaps an impossible task to arrange a work on the Law of Vendors and Purchasers upon a strictly logical basis.

You may, of course, approach the subject from the point of view either of the Vendor or of the Purchaser. The Vendor, if he is prudent, does not enter into a binding contract until he has considered his own capacity to sell, the nature of his title, and the evidence by which that title must be proved. If, as is commonly the case, he finds flaws in his title to the property which he proposes to sell, he declines to enter into an "open contract," under which he would be bound to show a good title for forty years, but inserts special stipulations which are intended to meet the objections of the Purchaser.

On the other hand, from the point of view of the Purchaser, the transaction begins with the contract of sale, and it is not as a rule until after the contract has been entered into that the Purchaser has any opportunity of ascertaining the nature of the Vendor's title. Moreover, although in the case of sales by auction the Vendor usually prepares his abstract of title before he signs the contract of sale, this is by no means the invariable practice in the case of sales by private treaty. The Vendor not

unfrequently neglects "to look before he leaps," and does not consult his solicitor as to the nature of his title until after he has bound himself by a contract to sell, entered into by himself personally, or by some agent whom he has employed. It seems, therefore, more in accordance with what is in practice the usual sequence of events to determine in the first place whether there has been a binding contract of sale before we enter into the consideration of how that contract must be carried into effect.

We shall therefore first consider what constitutes a contract; secondly, how that contract must be evidenced in order to comply with the Statute of Frauds; thirdly, what the contract should disclose in order that it may not be voidable by the Purchaser; and fourthly, we shall consider those cases in which Vendor or Purchaser is under disability, or has only a limited capacity to sell or purchase land. When these preliminary matters have been concluded, we shall deal with investigation of title, the means by which the contract can be enforced, and the manner in which completion should be carried out.

ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.

Page 80, line 10, after the word "trust," add, "and if one of two trustees is the Public Trustee the other trustee may retire under s. 5 (2) of the Public Trustee Act, 1906 (6 Edw. 7, c. 55).

Page 100, line 8, for "mortgage" read "mortgagee."

Page 184, lines 16 and 22, for "bundus" read "bundas."

Page 196, line 8, after the word "then," add, "the right of action is deemed to have accrued."

Page 352, note (b), add, “see also Re Quicke's Trusts, [1908] 1 Ch., at p. 893."

Page 359, note (1), for "1868" read "1862."

THE LAW

RELATING TO

Vendors and Purchasers of Real Property.

PART I.

THE CONTRACT OF SALE.

CHAPTER I.

WHAT CONSTITUTES A CONTRACT.

SECTION 1.

THE PARTIES MUST BE AD IDEM.

A CONTRACT for the sale of land may be constituted by a formal agreement in writing, or by a number of informal documents, such as letters, or even by a parol agreement, provided that it is sufficiently evidenced in writing, so as to satisfy the Statute of Frauds (a).

It must be borne in mind that the Statute of Frauds is a weapon of defence, and not of offence,

(a) 29 Car. 2, c. 3.