On Mon, Nov 20, 2000 at 10:45:38AM -0600, Jim Choate wrote:
On Fri, 17 Nov 2000, Peter Wayner wrote:
The law is very vague about the definition of signatures. It's simply a mark that is made with the intent of binding yourself to a contract. That means the old 'X' scratched on a piece of paper can still bind the illiterate. Mathematicians and computer security folks will probably recoil in horror about the circularity of the whole scheme, but that's the best the law could develop during the pen-and-ink years.
This is the reason for witnesses and notaries.
One person can easily lie about a signature. It's harder to arrange several (independent) agents to lie about it.
The 'x' mark usualy has to be witnessed to be legitimate.
Do you have a cite for that? Peter Wayner's summary is a lot closer to the case law I've seen. -- Greg Broiles gbroiles@netbox.com PO Box 897 Oakland CA 94604