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Electronic Signature as the Core Category in Digital Economy (2)Filed Under: General

The historical legal concept of signature is broader. It recognizes any mark made with the intention of authenticating the marked document. In a digital setting, today’s broad legal concept of signature may well include markings as diverse as digitized images of paper signatures, typed notations, or even addressing notations, such as electronic mail origination headers. A signature is not part of the substance of a transaction, but rather of its representation or form. Signing writings serve the following general purposes:

• Evidence: A signature authenticates a writing by identifying the signer with the signed document. When the signer makes a mark in a distinctive manner, the writing becomes attributable to the signer.
• Ceremony: The act of signing a document calls to the signer’s attention the legal significance of the signer’s act, and thereby helps prevent “inconsiderate engagements.”
• Approval: A signature expresses the signer’s approval or authorization of the writing, or the signer’s intention that it has legal effect.
• Efficiency: A signature on a written document often imparts a sense of clarity and finality to the transaction and may lessen the subsequent need to inquire beyond the face of a document.
To achieve the basic purposes of signatures outlined above, a signature must have the following attributes:
• Signer authentication: A signature should indicate who signed a document, message or record, and should be difficult for another person to produce without authorization.
• Document authentication: A signature should identify what is signed, making it impracticable to falsify or alter either the signed matter or the signature without detection.

Taken From : Digital Economy – Impacts, Influences and Challenges