If the parties have made no written memorandum of the sale, then the statute requires payment for goods, or part payment, or the giving of something in earnest to bind the bargain.

20 Gardner vs. Binney, 115 Mass., 450.

21 Cooke vs. Milliard, 65 N. Y., 352.

A mere promise to pay something in earnest to bind the bargain, is not sufficient,22 there must be an actual paying or delivery of the money, or thing, that alone constitutes part payment.

Some state statutes require this part payment or earnest money, to be made at the time the contract is entered into, but under the old English statute, payment might be made at the time of making the contract, or thereafter. Part payment may be made in anything of money value,23 and no particular amount is required.

In New York and in certain other states, the words, "in earnest to bind the bargain" do not appear in the statute.