ABSTRACT
In Western legal systems, a signature provides proof of identity and performs the function of authenticating a document. Traditionally, it has taken the form of an individual handwriting their name onto paper, creating the document. Despite its significance in law, there has been very little judicial guidance to defining the signature, and Anglophone courts have accepted a wide range of different types of signatures. In the digital age, signatures have departed widely from the traditional cursive form and now include the use of technologies that in no way resemble handwriting. This chapter investigates the signature as a material artefact of legal documentary practices, in order to better understand the impact of changes that are occurring in the digital age. Drawing on the work of Béatrice Fraenkel, author of the only book-length cultural history of the signature, and with reference to Australian legal disputes, I argue that rather than thinking of the signature in terms of its physical properties, we should consider it as an act or performance, with potential to transform a written document into legal action.
