Jan 10 2012
Legal documents
Legal documentation refers to formally written documentation which is legally binding and usually attributed to the writer. The document is represent enforceable legally, contractual obligation, a right, and acts as the evidence of the contract, the obligation or the legal act. Legal documents include certificated, bonds, deeds, will, an Act of the Legislature or any other authorized jurisdiction, executive orders, court writ, constitutions etc. These legal documents are usually issued under seal although in some countries this has been waived. Apart from the legal seal, authentication of legal document may be done by use of special paper, watermarks, and stamps. The purpose of this is to make a legal document easily verifiable and difficult to counterfeit or change since the content of such documents may have very far reaching effects. Imagine altering a will, a University degree, a court writ or a title deed of someone’s property. The effect will not only be to the persons affected but to the credibility of the other documents issued by the issuing authority.
Legal Seal
A seal involves placing wax seal with the mark of the issuing authority or a paper seal with the mark of the issuing authority. When a document is issued under seal, it waives the requirement of consideration under the law of contract. Consideration under the law of contract refers to the obligation of each party to a contract, for example, when you purchase a car, your consideration would be the amount you pay for the same while the consideration of the seller would be the car itself, therefore there is a valid contract. If you were to draw a contract of sale and omit the amount of money to be paid to the seller, and the seller transfers the motor vehicle to you, then the contract of sale would be null though you would keep the car as a gift and have no legal obligation.
Some countries like Australia have waived the need to have legal documents under seal in since they interpret the seal as a formally attested signature.
Electronic legal documentation
With the onset of internet and electronic documentation, it has become necessary to have legal documents in electronic form. Electronic legal documents have electronic signatures for authenticity. Software has been developed to verify electronic legal documents and trace the electronic signatures on such documents. So as to prevent tampering and unauthorized changes to electronic legal documents, the documents are encrypted. The practice of using electronic legal documents is widespread in the United States of America though other countries and territories are adopting this system. In an aim to address the concerns for security of electronic documents and in particular legal electronic documents, the United States of America congress passed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act in 2000 to address the issue of electronic documentation. It is believed that in the near future and with the advancement in security, we may have every legal document globally in electronic form eliminating the need for having legal documents in paper and hence more is being invested in electronic document security in preparation for the anticipated shift.