Assignment Electronic Signature

Signature is a notation that signifies an individual’s acceptance of the terms and conditions an
instrument outlines. It’s a written mark, word or symbol that’s placed on an instrument with the
intent to be bound, and enforceable in the court of law. A person is not liable on an instrument
unless the person signed the instrument or represented by an agent who signed the instrument.
A signature may be made manually or electronically by means of device or machine. Section 3

of Electronic Transaction Act provides: ‘electronic signature’ means data, including an
electronic sound, symbol, or process, executed, or adopted to identify a party, to indicate that
party’s approval or intention in respect of the information contained in the electronic
communication and which is attached to or logically associated with such electronic
communication. An electronic signature signifies consent of the signatory and their intent to be
bound by the transaction.
Section 7 of ETA provides that an electronic signature is secure if it: (a) is unique for the
purpose for which it is used; (b) can be used to identify the person who signs off the electronic
communication; (c) is created and affixed to the electronic communication by the signer; (d) is
under control of the person who signs; and (e) is created and linked to the electronic
communication to which it relates in a manner such that any changes in the electronic
communication would be revealed.1
Similar to a manual signature, an electronic signature is only valid if the signer has the
intent to sign. Furthermore, it is true that electronic signature have the same legal value
and objectives as any other kind of signature as pondered hereinafter;
According to Professor Chris Reed, just as any other signature, electronic signature serves three
purposes: the identity of the signatory; the intention to make a signature; and that the signatory
adopts the contents of the document.2
Part 11 of the Electronic Transaction Act explicitly recognizes that an electronic signature,
possess the same legal status as handwritten signature. 3 The Act recognizes that, where a law
requires a person signature or a seal be entered or affixed to a particular instrument, and that law
2
Chris Reed, ‘What is a signature?’, (2000) 3 Journal of Information, Law and Technology (JILT), at
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/jilt/2000_3/reed/.
3
does not prescribe the method or form by which such instrument may be signed or affixed, that
requirement can be met by applying a secure electronic, by person specifically required to do so. 4
It means that an instrument cannot be deemed legally unenforceable in Tanzania merely by the
fact it was signed electronically. This signifies that a document signed or affixed electronically
does not lose legal value only because it was signed electronically.
In 2014, the European Union adopted Regulation No. 910/2014 on electronic identification and
trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (eIDAS). The eIDAS provides that
an electronic signature “shall not be denied legal effect and admissibility as evidence in legal
proceedings solely on the grounds that it is in an electronic form” or that it does not meet
requirements for a higher standard of electronic signatures.5
In United State, both the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) and the Electronic
Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) state that a “signature . . . may not be
denied legal effect . . . or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.” 6 UETA goes a
step further and explicitly states that electronic documents signed electronically are legally
equivalent to documents and/or agreements signed by hand when the law requires a written
agreement: “[i]f a law requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record satisfies the law,”
and “[i]f a law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies the law.”7
Howley v. Whipple,8 where it was held that;

"It makes no difference whether [the telegraph] operator writes the offer or the acceptance in
the presence of his principal and by his express direction, with a steel pen an inch long attached
to an ordinary penholder, or whether his pen be a copper wire a thousand miles long. In either
case the thought is communicated to the paper by the use of the finger resting upon the pen; nor
does it make any difference that in one case common record ink is used, while in the other case a
5
Regulation (EU) 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on Electronic
Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions in the Internal Market and Repealing Directive
1999/93/EC, 2014 O.J. (L 257) 73 [hereinafter eIDAS], art. 25(1).
6
15 U.S.C. § 7001; UNIF. ELEC. TRANSACTIONS ACT s. 7(a).
7
UNIF. ELEC. TRANSACTIONS ACT s. 7.
8
48 N.H. 48 New Hampshire Supreme Court.
more subtle fluid, known as electricity, performs the same office". This means that an electronic
signature carries the same legal weight as manual signature.

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Signature is a notation that signifies an individual’s acceptance of the terms and conditions an

A signature may be made manually or electronically by means of device or machine. Section 3

Howley v. Whipple,8 where it was held that;

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