Contract Law - Contracts - in writing?

What this page is about: This page answers the question, do contracts have to be in writing?

In the ordinary case, the law doesn't require a contract to be made in any particular form, nor according to any particular formalities; it's sufficient that there be a simple contract.

Such a contract may be validly made orally (eg Smith v Hughes (1871) LR 6 QB 597; Phillips v Brooks Ltd [1919] 2 KB 243; Luxor (Eastbourne) Ltd v Cooper [1941] AC 108, [1941] 1 All ER 33, HL; Errington v Errington and Woods [1952] 1 KB 290, [1952] 1 All ER 149, CA; McCutcheon v David MacBrayne Ltd [1964] 1 All ER 430, [1964] 1 WLR 125, HL; Lewis v Averay [1972] 1 QB 198, [1971] 3 All ER 907, CA; Hollier v Rambler Motors (AMC) Ltd [1972] 2 QB 71, [1972] 1 All ER 399, CA).

Such a contract may also be made in writing, or partly orally and partly in writing (See, for example, Transmotors Ltd v Robertson, Buckley & Co Ltd [1970] 1 Lloyd's Rep 224; J Evans & Son (Portsmouth) Ltd v Andrea Merzario Ltd [1976] 2 All ER 930, [1976] 1 WLR 1078, CA).

If it's in writing, a contract may be under hand only or by deed; but the law requires writing in the case of certain contracts and some of these must be in the form of a deed.

The term 'parol contract' is sometimes applied to simple contracts, whether oral or written, as distinguished from contracts by deed, and sometimes to oral as distinguished from written contracts. It is more properly used in the former sense.

Simply put - no, most contracts don't have to be in writing, or in a single document, and they don't have to follow any particular formalities. However! When it comes to determining what was agreed at a later stage, it helps a lot if the terms were confirmed in writing.

What about the contracts that DO have to be made in writing?

Since 1960, the only contracts which are required by the rules of common law to be made by deed are contracts made without valuable consideration.

However, particular statutes require contractual documents to be made by deed in, inter alia, the following cases:

So where there's no consideration - i.e. nothing of value, to support the contract, the contract needs to be made in writing and SIGNED AS A DEED. Other contracts - i.e. for land, for shares and for ships, also need to be made by Deed.

Where the contract SHOULD be made by DEED but has NOT been made by deed, it may render the contract void (See, for example, the Law of Property Act 1925 s 52 ('void for the purpose of conveying or creating a legal estate'), or unenforceable (for cases where the contract is unenforceable by one party see eg the Consumer Credit Act 1974 s 65(1), which provides that the creditor or owner of the goods can only enforce a defective agreement with the permission of the court). In some cases, the absence of writing may involve one or more of the parties in criminal proceedings (eg the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971 s 3(2)).