R2d § 110
Classes of Contracts Covered
(1) The following classes of contracts are subject to a statute, commonly called the Statute of Frauds, forbidding enforcement unless there is a written memorandum or an applicable exception: (a) a contract of an executor or administrator to answer for a duty of his decedent (the executor-administrator provision); (b) a contract to answer for the duty of another (the suretyship provision); (c) a contract made upon consideration of marriage (the marriage provision); (d) a contract for the sale of an interest in land (the land contract provision); (e) a contract that is not to be performed within one year from the making thereof (the one-year provision). (2) The following classes of contracts, which were traditionally subject to the Statute of Frauds, are now governed by Statute of Frauds provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code: (a) a contract for the sale of goods for the price of $ 500 or more (U.C.C. § 2-201); ... (5) In many states other classes of contracts are subject to a requirement of a writing.
Professor's notes
Elements (categories within the Statute of Frauds): contracts that fall within the SoF and require a writing: (a) executor-administrator contracts; (b) suretyship; (c) contracts in consideration of marriage; (d) land contracts; (e) contracts not to be performed within one year; (f) UCC categories (sale of goods $500+, securities, secured transactions).
McIntosh v. Murphy operationalizes the one-year prong: oral employment for a year starting later was within the SoF but enforced via promissory estoppel.
Common misunderstanding: students think the SoF voids the contract. It does not. A SoF-violating contract is unenforceable, not void. The defendant must plead the SoF as a defense; if not raised, the oral contract goes through. SoF is a gezerah: a prophylactic against perjury, not a substantive validity rule.
Cases that operationalize this rule
Text
R2d § 110. Classes of Contracts Covered.
(1) The following classes of contracts are subject to a statute, commonly called the Statute of Frauds, forbidding enforcement unless there is a written memorandum or an applicable exception:
(a) a contract of an executor or administrator to answer for a duty of his decedent (the executor-administrator provision);
(b) a contract to answer for the duty of another (the suretyship provision);
(c) a contract made upon consideration of marriage (the marriage provision);
(d) a contract for the sale of an interest in land (the land contract provision);
(e) a contract that is not to be performed within one year from the making thereof (the one-year provision).
(2) The following classes of contracts, which were traditionally subject to the Statute of Frauds, are now governed by Statute of Frauds provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code:
(a) a contract for the sale of goods for the price of $ 500 or more (U.C.C. § 2-201);
…
(5) In many states other classes of contracts are subject to a requirement of a writing.