not be
valid, unless such agreement, or some memorandum or note thereof, is in
writing, and signed by the party to be charged. The statutes of some of
the states have adopted this provision of the English statute, and
require further, that a special promise to answer for the debt, default,
or misdoing of another person, and an agreement or promise upon
consideration of marriage, (except mutual promises to marry,) shall
likewise be void without such writing, in which the consideration shall
be expressed.

Chapter LV.

Contracts of Sale.

Sec.1. A Sale is a transfer of the title to property to another person for
a certain price; or the exchange of a commodity for its equivalent value
in money. The exchange of one commodity for another, is _barter_.
Unless the absolute title is conveyed, the contract is merely a
mortgage. The same general principles of law which apply to contracts in
general, are applicable to contracts of sale, viz.: the competency of
the parties to contract; the sufficiency of the consideration; its
legality and morality; the assent of the parties; and the absence of
fraud.

Sec.2. To make a sale valid, the thing to be sold must have an _actual or a
possible existence_, and be _capable of delivery_. Thus, if A sells a
horse or certain goods to B; and if, at the time of the sale, the horse
is dead, or the good? are destroyed; the sale is void. If the goods are
partially destroyed, the buyer may either take them at a proportionate
reduction of the price, or abandon the contract.

Sec.3. But, although the thing to be sold has no actual and present
existence; yet if its future existence is possible, and if it is the
product or increase of something to which the seller has a present
right, it is the subject of sale. Thus, a man may sell the wool that may
grow on his sheep, the fruit that may grow on his trees, or the future
increase of his cattle. But he cannot sell the products of the sheep or
cattle which he may hereafter buy. A man may, however, agree to procure
goods which he has not, and to furnish at a future time, for a certain
price; and his contract will be good; though this is not strictly a
sale, but an agreement to sell.

Sec.4. There can be no sale without a _price_; and the price must be fixed
and definite, or susceptible of being ascertained by reference to some
criterion prescribed in the contract, so as to render any further
negotiation of the parties unnecessary. Thus, a ma