The seventeenth section of the statute of frauds, which has to do purely with the sale of goods, is as follows: "No contract for the sale of goods, wares or merchandises for the prices of ten pounds sterling, or upwards, shall be allowed to be good, except the buyer shall accept part of the goods so sold, and actually receive the same, or give something in earnest to bind the bargain, or in part payment, or that some note or memorandum in writing of the said bargain be made and signed by the parties to be charged by such contract, or their agents thereunto lawfully authorized." This part of the statute of frauds has been enacted in nearly all the States of the Union, - Illinois, Ohio, Delaware, Kansas, Texas, Virginia, and Pennsylvania being exceptions.

The original English statute became a law in 1677, and its passage and authorship is credited for the most part to Lords Hale and Nottingham.