History of Signatures
Signatures have existed since the development of print. The Sumerians, who are credited with the invention of writing, used seals to authenticate their writings, applied into their clay writing tablets using rollers.The Talmud, which dates from the 3rd Century (Common Era), refers to signature and witnessing processes.The Talmud also detailed security procedures to ensure documents were not changed after signing.
The use of hand-written signatures to authenticate documents began in the Roman Empire at around AD 439, during the rule of Valentinian III. The subscripto was a small hand-written sentence at the end of a document, saying that the signer “subscribed” to the document. The Romans first used subscriptos to wills, but the practice spread to most other forms of legal transactions, and became a standard feature of Roman law, which itself is the basis of most Western common and civil law systems.
In England signatures were first legally required in 1677, when the English Parliament passed “An Act for Prevention of Frauds and Perjuries”. The “Statute of Frauds” (as it became known) required “some note or memorandum in writing” that was “signed by the parties” for certain types of transactions. This requirement spread throughout most areas of English contract law, which the Australia and New Zealand legal system inherited virtually unchanged. Australia has since amended the Statute of Frauds in its jurisdictions. The relevant provisions have been supplanted in the Australian Capital Territory; New South Wales; Queensland, and South Australia.The relevant provisions still have force but are affected by local legislation in the Northern Territory, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. New Zealand updated the law in 1956 with the Contracts Enforcement Act 1956.
