E-signatures · Glossary
Is an electronic signature legally binding?
In most countries, yes. The United States ESIGN Act and UETA, the European eIDAS Regulation and the Australian Electronic Transactions Act all say a signature cannot be denied legal effect merely because it is electronic. What they require is intent to sign, consent to sign electronically, and a record that can be retained and reproduced.
The question people mean to ask is rarely whether it is legal. It is whether they could prove it if the other side denied signing, and that is a question about evidence rather than about the law.
Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder
3 min read · Published
What the statutes actually say
They are deliberately technology neutral. None of them require cryptography, a particular vendor, or a particular kind of mark. ESIGN and UETA in the United States say an electronic signature satisfies a signature requirement. eIDAS says the same and adds tiers, advanced and qualified, for cases where more assurance is wanted. The Australian Act follows the same shape. The common thread is that the person intended to sign, agreed to do it electronically, and the record can be kept and reproduced.
Where the arguments actually happen
Almost never about legality, almost always about evidence. Did this person sign, or did somebody with access to their inbox. Was the document they saw the document you are now holding. Did they know they were signing. A process that records an identity check, keeps a chained audit trail and seals the finished file with a cryptographic signature answers all three. A scanned squiggle pasted into a PDF answers none.
The documents still excluded
Every regime carves out categories. Wills, certain family law documents, some property instruments and various court filings are commonly excluded or subject to extra formality, and the list differs by country and by state. There is no shortcut here: if the document is one of those types, check the rule for the jurisdiction that governs it before you send it for signature rather than after.
Questions people ask
Does a typed name count?
In most jurisdictions it can, if the person intended it as their signature. The statutes are about intent rather than form. The practical caution is that a typed name on its own leaves you proving intent from surrounding context, which is much harder than pointing at an identity check and an audit trail.
Do both parties have to consent to sign electronically?
Consumer facing rules in particular require that the signer agrees to transact electronically and is told what they are agreeing to. That is why a signing flow should record the consent wording and its version alongside the signature, and why the certificate of completion prints it.
Is a signature from another country valid?
Usually, but the governing law of the contract decides. Cross border agreements are where the tiers matter most: an advanced or qualified signature under eIDAS travels better in Europe than a bare click, and some counterparties will insist on one as a matter of policy rather than law.
What about witnessing?
Where a document requires a witness, the witness generally has to observe the signing, and whether that can happen over video varies by jurisdiction and has changed repeatedly since 2020. Treat any requirement for a witness as a signal to check the current local rule rather than to assume.
Can somebody deny they signed?
They can always assert it. What decides the outcome is the record: the identity check they passed, the address the action came from, the timestamps, the consent version, and whether the document hash matches the one they saw. That is the whole reason the audit trail exists.
Do I need a qualified electronic signature?
Only for the narrow set of transactions where the law or the counterparty demands it, which in practice means certain public sector and regulated dealings in the European Union. For ordinary commercial contracts an advanced signature with a solid audit trail is the normal standard.
Make one with e-signatures
The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own.
Send a document for signingRelated questions
- Electronic signature against digital signatureAn electronic signature is any mark made with intent to sign. A digital signature is cryptography. One is a legal category, the other is a technique.
- Access code against one time codeAn access code is a shared secret you send the signer yourself. A one time code is emailed at signing time and expires. When each is the right check.
- What is an audit trail?An audit trail is the ordered, tamper evident record of everything that happened to a document: who opened it, who was challenged, who signed and when.
Step by step in the builder: Send a PDF for e-signature.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .