(1) Where any promise in a contract cannot be fully performed within a year from the time

the contract is made, all promises in the contract are within the Statute of Frauds until one party to

the contract completes his performance.

(2) When one party to a contract has completed his performance, the one-year provision of the

Statute does not prevent enforcement of the promises of other parties.

Comment:

a. Possibility of performance within one year. The English Statute of Frauds applied to an

action "upon any agreement that is not to be performed within the space of one year from the making

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thereof." The design was said to be not to trust to the memory of witnesses for a longer time than

one year, but the statutory language was not appropriate to carry out that purpose. The result has

been a tendency to construction narrowing the application of the statute. Under the prevailing

interpretation, the enforceability of a contract under the one-year provision does not turn on the

actual course of subsequent events, nor on the expectations of the parties as to the probabilities.

Contracts of uncertain duration are simply excluded; the provision covers only those contracts whose

performance cannot possibly be completed within a year.

Illustrations:

1. A, an insurance company, orally promises to insure B's house against fire for five years,

B promising to pay the premium therefor within the week. The contract is not within the Statute of

Frauds, since if the house burns and the insurer pays within a year the contract will be fully

performed.

2. A orally promises to work for B, and B promises to employ A during A's life at a stated

salary. The promises are not within the one-year provision of the Statute, since A's life may terminate

within a year.

3. A and B, a railway, agree that A will provide grading and ties and B will construct a switch

and maintain it as long as A needs it for shipping purposes. A plans to use it for shipping lumber

from adjoining land which contains enough lumber to run a mill for 30 years, and uses the switch

for 15 years. The contract is not within the one-year provision of the Statute.

4. A orally promises B to sell him five crops of potatoes to be grown on a specified farm in

Minnesota, and B promises to pay a stated price on delivery. The contract is within the Statute of

Frauds. It is impossible in Minnesota for five crops of potatoes to mature in one year.

5. A orally promises to work for B, and B promises to employ A for five years at a stated

salary. The promises are within the Statute of Frauds. Though the duties of both parties will be

discharged if A dies within a year, the duties cannot be "performed" within a year. This conclusion

is not affected by a term in the oral agreement that the employment shall terminate on A's death.

6. The facts being otherwise as stated in Illustration 5, the agreement provides that either

party may terminate the contract by giving 30 days notice at any time. The agreement is one of

uncertain duration and is not within the one-year provision of the Statute.