In contract law,[1] a simple contract is a contract made orally, in writing, or both, rather than a contract made under seal.[2] Simple contracts require consideration to be valid,[3] but simple contracts may be implied from the conduct of parties bound by the contract.[4]William Blackstone observed in his Commentaries on the Laws of England that in the seventeenth century, debtors used simple contracts as one of three accepted forms of unsecured debt instruments.[5] In 1828, the Parliament of the United Kingdomamended the statute of frauds so that oral acknowledgments or promises could not be used as evidence to prove the existence of a simple contract.[6] Today, some American jurisdictions have established that a security interest is perfected "when a creditor on a simple contract cannot acquire a judicial lien that is superior to the interest" of the secured party.[7]
^Jack Beatson, Anson’s Law of Contract 73 (2002) ("English law does not regard a bare promise or agreement as legally enforceable but recognises only two kinds of contract, the contract made by deed, and the simple contract.").
^David M. Walker, The Oxford Companion to Law 1144 (1980) (describing a "simple contract" as a "contract made not under seal, but orally or in writing").
^George Lee Flint, Jr.& Marie Juliet Alfaro, Secured Transactions History: The Impact of Southern Staple Agriculture on The First Chattel Mortgage Acts in The Anglo-American World, 30 Ohio N.U.L. Rev. 537, 545 (2004) (citing 2 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 465 (Chicago, Callaghan & Co. 1879)).
^Statute of Frauds Amendment Act 1828, 9 Geo 4 c 14 (1828).
