Section V

0:00Section V As further evidence of the general sense of mankind as to the practical necessity there is that all men's important contracts, especially those of a permanent nature, should be both written and signed, the following facts are pertinent. For nearly two hundred years, that is, since 1677, there has been on the Statute Book of England, and the same in substance, if not precisely in letter, has been re-enacted and is now in force in nearly or quite all the states of this union, a statute the general object of which is to declare that no action shall be brought to enforce contracts of the more important class unless they are put in writing, and signed by the parties to be held chargeable by the law.

0:47The principle of the statute, be it observed, is not merely that written contracts shall be signed, but also that all contracts, except those specially exempted, generally those that are for small amounts and are to remain in force but for a short time, shall be both written and signed. The reason of the statute on this point is that it is now so easy a thing for men to put their contracts in writing and to sign them, and their failure to do so opens the door to so much doubt, fraud and litigation that men who neglect to have their contracts of any considerable importance, written and signed, ought not to have the benefit of courts of justice to enforce them. And this reason is a wise one, and that experience has confirmed its wisdom and necessity is demonstrated by the fact that it has been acted upon in England for nearly two hundred years and has been so nearly universally adopted in this country and that nobody thinks of

1:47repealing it. We all know, too, how careful most men are to have their contracts written and signed, even when this statute does not require it. For example, most men, if they have money due them, of no larger amount than $5 or $10, are careful to take a note for it. If they buy even a small bill of goods, paying for it at the time of delivery, they take a receited bill for it. If they pay a small balance of a book account or any other small debt previously contracted, they take a written receipt for it. Furthermore, the law everywhere, probably, in our country as well as in England, requires requires that a large class of contracts, such as wills, deeds, etc., shall not only be written and signed, but also sealed, witnessed, and acknowledged, and in the case of married women conveying their rights in real estate, the law in many states requires that the women shall be examined separate and apart from their husbands, and declare that they sign

2:47their contracts free of any fear or compulsion of their husbands. Such are some of the precautions which the laws require, and which individuals, from motives of common prudence, even in cases not required by law, take to put their contracts in writing, and have them signed, and to guard against all uncertainties and controversies in regard to their meaning and validity. And yet we have what purports, or professes, or is claimed to be a contract, the Constitution, made eighty years ago by men who are now all dead and who have never had any power to bind us, but which, it is claimed, has nevertheless bound three generations of men, consisting of many millions, and which, it is claimed, will be binding upon all the millions that are to come, but which nobody ever signed, sealed, delivered, witnessed or acknowledged, and which few persons, compared to the whole number that are claimed to be bound by it, have ever read or ever seen or ever will read or see, and of those who have ever read it

3:54or ever will read it, scarcely any two, perhaps no two, have ever agreed or ever will agree as to what it means. Moreover, this supposed contract which would not be received in any court of justice sitting under its authority, if offered to prove a debt of five dollars owing by one man to another, is one by which, as it is generally interpreted by those who pretend to administer it, all men, women and children throughout the country and through all time surrender not only all their property, but also their liberties and even lives into the hands of men who by this supposed contract are expressly made wholly irresponsible for their disposal of them. And we are so insane or so wicked as to destroy property and lives without limit in fighting to compel men to fulfill a supposed contract, which, inasmuch as it has never been signed by anybody, is, on general principles of law and reason, such principles as we are all governed by in regard to other contracts, the merest waste paper, binding upon nobody, fit only to be thrown into the fire, or if preserved, preserved only to serve as a

5:08as a witness and a warning of the folly and wickedness of mankind.