The “wet ink” signature is still left over from 2000’s E-Sign Act, which made digital signatures equivalent to their physical counterparts in most cases.
[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/chapter-96](https://ncua.gov/regulation-supervision/manuals-guides/federal-consumer-financial-protection-guide/compliance-management/deposit-regulations/electronic-signatures-global-and-national-commerce-act-e-sign-act)
>There are some things that the law excepted out:
>
>adoption paperwork;
>
>court orders;
>
>divorce decrees;
>
>hazardous material transport documentation;
>
>insurance benefits cancellations;
>
>notices of default, foreclosure, repossession and eviction;
>
>official court documentation;
>
>product recalls;
>
>some Uniform Commercial Code documentation;
>
>utility service cancellation notifications; and
>
>wills, codicils and trust documents.
Over time, more and more of these have been adopted into electronic signatures.
A CONTRACT does not even need a piece of paper to be enforceable (but it HELPS) – a verbal contract is still binding. An un-notarized contract is still binding.. heck shrink-wrap and click-through contracts are still binding.
What each of these things do is reduce the parties ability to deny the terms of the contract (writing it down) or deny agreeing to the contract (repudiation).
The “wet ink” signature is still left over from 2000’s E-Sign Act, which made digital signatures equivalent to their physical counterparts in most cases.
[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/chapter-96](https://ncua.gov/regulation-supervision/manuals-guides/federal-consumer-financial-protection-guide/compliance-management/deposit-regulations/electronic-signatures-global-and-national-commerce-act-e-sign-act)
>There are some things that the law excepted out:
>
>adoption paperwork;
>
>court orders;
>
>divorce decrees;
>
>hazardous material transport documentation;
>
>insurance benefits cancellations;
>
>notices of default, foreclosure, repossession and eviction;
>
>official court documentation;
>
>product recalls;
>
>some Uniform Commercial Code documentation;
>
>utility service cancellation notifications; and
>
>wills, codicils and trust documents.
Over time, more and more of these have been adopted into electronic signatures.
A CONTRACT does not even need a piece of paper to be enforceable (but it HELPS) – a verbal contract is still binding. An un-notarized contract is still binding.. heck shrink-wrap and click-through contracts are still binding.
What each of these things do is reduce the parties ability to deny the terms of the contract (writing it down) or deny agreeing to the contract (repudiation).
The primary purpose of a signature is not to authenticate. It’s to provide a clear action that signifies “I am now hereby agreeing to this contract.” In theory it could be done in other ways, like you could have a checkbox that says “check here to sign the contract.” But signatures are a traditional and agreed-upon way of doing this.
The primary purpose of a signature is not to authenticate. It’s to provide a clear action that signifies “I am now hereby agreeing to this contract.” In theory it could be done in other ways, like you could have a checkbox that says “check here to sign the contract.” But signatures are a traditional and agreed-upon way of doing this.
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