What is the Statue of Frauds?

In the absence of an oral agreement, the Statue of Frauds operates. This case is very different from what Quigley J. was dealing with in Mariani v. 778963 Ontario Ltd. 37 R.P.R. (4th) 79. There, the three men involved had purchased one piece of land together and each retained a one-third interest in the property. It made sense that a mechanism had to have been crafted to deal with the possibility of one wanting to sell his interest in the joint property – that was the context in which that case was decided.