Email, a Legally Binding Contract?

slashrot writes "Boston.com has a story on a dispute between a home buyer and seller in which they agreed on terms in a series of email messages. Superior court judge Ernest B. Murphy decided that even though these messages only contain typewritten names instead of signatures, they still constitute a binding contract. It's said to be a first in Massachusetts." The particulary look to me like a home seller trying to weasel out of a deal, but the ramifications of the decision are substantial. This is really worth a read.

Comments

Huh?

[Ozan]

I wonder why there is even a discussion over it. A contract never needs a signature, every time you buy a quarterpounder at McD you make a contract. Even multi-million-dollar transactions at the NYSE are made without handwritten signatures. As long as it is clear who the two negotiators are there is no doubt that two declarations of intention are made.