Why do we have signatures

In the digital world, swathes of young people barely use cursive script, let alone a signature, argues Brett King, chief executive of mobile app-based debit account Moven. There are far more secure ways to prevent fraud. Therefore it's time to move on, he believes. I think there will be a natural evolution where the signature dies a slow death. And yet. There's something profoundly satisfying about marking your own unique inscription.

It's the one satisfying flourish of personality you're allowed at the foot of a neatly-typed business letter. It's the scribble in a greetings card that shows a loved one is thinking of you. It's the autograph you first honed as a teenager in the demi-expectation you'd become a pop star or a sporting hero.

There's an expectation that it should be a thing of grace and dignity. When Jack Lew was proposed as US Treasury Secretary - meaning his signature would appear on all dollar bills - there was widespread mockery of his looping, corkscrew-like imprint. President Barack Obama announced, apparently only semi-jokingly: "Jack assures me that he is going to work to make at least one letter legible in order not to debase our currency.

UK Business Secretary Vince Cable's minimalist designation - a line and a dot, more smiley face than calligraphy - was widely mocked. People expect more from their leaders' handwriting. The standard set by Elizabeth I - whose elaborate royal inscription is perhaps one of the most famous in history - is a hard one to match.

John Hancock's artfully-rendered designation on the US Declaration of Independence is so widely celebrated that his name has become a byword for "signature" among Americans. What's more, signatures go back a long way in human culture. El Cid left one in , but it wasn't until parliament passed the Statute of Frauds in England in - which required that contracts be signed - that the signature became the commonly-understood acclamation of assent.

For its time, it was an effective - though never entirely failsafe - guarantee against fraud. Now, however, it has been superseded. Debt Recovery. Dispute Resolution. Education Law.

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Liam Brazil. Sonya Bruen. Susan Bryson. Una Burke. Nicola Byrne. Vanessa Byrne. Janet Cafferky. Niamh Caffrey. Niamh Callaghan. Neil Campbell. William Carmody. Rachel Carney. Eoin Cassidy. Gemma Coady. Tanya Colbert. Niall Collins. Ger Connolly. Keelin Cowhey. Melanie Crowley. Tom Davy. Muireann Dennehy. Robert Dickson. William Dillon-Leetch. Shane Dolan. Michael Doran. Conor Durkin. Paul Egan SC. James Fenelon. Electronic signature software, however, is secured by sophisticated cryptographic algorithms to prevent tampering and maintains an audit trail to settle disputes.

If you find yourself signing a document or requesting signatures several times a day, then you should consider an electronic signature. Not only is it faster and easier, but many electronic signature apps provide you with templates to streamline document processes, ways to keep track of all your documents and tools to ensure that each field of a document is signed. Lee Davis is a tech analyst who has been covering the document imaging industry for over five years.

Currently, Lee is the Associate Director of Software and Scanners at Keypoint Intelligence, where he is responsible for maintaining coverage of document imaging software and office scanning technology.

Lee also contributes editorial content centered on news and trends in the document imaging industry. In that role, he was responsible for writing, editing, and strategizing content geared toward small business owners. Before that, he worked at PCMag as a business analyst. Jane Haskins practiced law for 20 years, representing small businesses in startup, dissolution, business transactions and litigation. She has written hundreds of articles on legal, intellectual property and tax issues affecting small businesses.

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What Is an Electronic Signature? Electronic Vs. Digital Signatures: The Subtle Difference The difference between an electronic signature and a digital signature is subtle to anyone who is sending or signing a document. Like a Regular Signature but Better Electronic signatures are superior to their ink-based ancestors. Instant, Convenient, Foolproof Electronic signatures accelerate approvals and agreements by eliminating idle periods from the process. Legally Binding Electronic signatures are as legally binding as their ink-based counterparts.

Using Electronic Signatures There is no one way to make an electronic signature. Electronic Signatures in Microsoft Word Sometimes, you might want to add an electronic signature to a Word document.

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