What is wet signatures?

Introduction:

Authorization of Documents:

• Documents like contracts, agreements, memorandum of understanding and various other documents are formulated on a regular basis in order to fulfill some or other purpose.

• However, these formulated documents are known as drafts as long as the parties involved in the execution of these documents do not authorize these drafts by giving their consent with regards to the contents of such documents.

• The question arises that if the parties involved in the execution of the said document give their consent orally, will that amount to authorization of the said document

• Theanswer to the aforementioned question is no, oral consent is not considered to be a valid authorization, simply because oral consent is not perpetual and may be revoked at any time.

• Today, both the parties are giving oral consent and agreeing to the terms or contents of the document but tomorrow when the parties have to fulfill their respective obligations, one of the parties may raise a dispute by not agreeing with some of the contents of the document, thereby revoking the oral consent given earlier..

• Hence, there must be a uniformity with regards to consent given as if consent is revoked time and again, then the terms of the document would never be executed

• Signing a document is considered to be a valid authorization as it is considered as a perpetual consent given until and unless all the terms mentioned in the document are successfully executed. In case a dispute arises with respect to the terms of the document, the signature of the party raising the dispute would be cited as it clearly indicates their consent as far as the terms of the document are concerned.

Concept and Application:

Wet signatures explained

• Thetraditional pen and paper signatures are called wet signatures. To sign physical documents, wet signatures are used as the e signatures are not feasible in order to sign physical documents.

• In today’s day and age, electronic signatures or e signatures are used more often than the traditional wet signatures. However, for some documents wet signatures are still indispensable, such as cheques, college admission forms, offline or physical exam forms

Authenticity of signatures

• There’s a raging debate over the authenticity of wet signatures and e signatures and which one is more authentic and hence should be preferred.

• The proponents of e signatures argue that the e signatures are much more authentic than wet signatures since the consent of the true owner is a prerequisite for e signature to be published and if no such consent is given then it is impossible to publish the e signature.

• The argument against the aforementioned contention is that the consent of the true owner may not be voluntary at all times as despite being the true owner, the person may be coerced into giving consent for the e signature and hence this raises serious concerns with regards to the authenticity of e signatures.

• Mean while, the proponents of wet signatures argue that wet signatures are absolutely authentic not only because the concerned real person signs on the document physically but also despite being forced to sign the document, the concerned person has the choice to read all the contents of document carefully and choose not to sign. Creating a sense of urgency won’t suffice in inducing the person to sign as far as wet signatures are concerned.

• The argument against the aforementioned contention is that it is possible to forge the wet signature of a person and thereby commit a fraud by signing a document on the behalf of the concerned when such person does not have any intimation about the same.

• Thus, it can be inferred that both wet signatures and e signatures have their respective advantages and it primarily depends on the type of document and the contention of the parties involved in the execution of such document as to whether they prefer wet signature or e signature.

Conclusion

Advantages of wet signatures

• Someofthemain advantages of wet signatures are that the documents which are authorized through wet signatures hold perpetual value in a way as they can be stored and accessed easily, reference can be cited easily too as the copies of the document can be circulated amongst the parties involved in the execution of the document as well as the stakeholders involved, if the concerned person who has authorized the document through his wet signature is deceased, the document can still be executed (unless his legal heirs contest forgery of his signature)

Disadvantages of wet signatures:

• Someofthemain disadvantages of wet signatures are forgery of wet signatures and thereby fraudulently involved the person whose signature is forged into the execution of a document which he is not even aware of and has no reason to enter into, change in signature by the concerned person in his official documents like passport, pan card, etc. would render his previous wet signature redundant and he can claim that he wasn’t the person who signed that particular document in order to escape liability of the execution of the said document.

  Inference:

• Uponconsidering the advantages as well as disadvantages of wet signatures, it can be concluded for certain documents wherein wet signatures are a prerequisite, they must be used and in other cases due care and precaution must be taken while utilizing wet signatures for authorization of a document