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Britain's 400 Years of Cyber Law

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the ye-olde-email dept.

corbettw writes "There's a news piece in The Register this morning about a British high court ruling about email signatures, and whether they constitute binding contracts. Apparently, the 1677 Statute of Frauds dictates what constitutes a contract, so an email with a disclaimer in the sig could qualify under the language of the statute. Since the statute predates the Constitution of the U.S., a clever lawyer could argue it applies here equally. Maybe there's some truth to the Internet joke 'take off every sig for great justice!'"

4 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wrong, let me clarify. by Malc · · Score: 2, Funny

    But it doesn't clearly state that if she doesn't buy you the pint after the flicks that it's a matter of sacrilege, not just civil law.

  2. Slashdot sigs, too? by truthsearch · · Score: 2, Funny

    We better all prey Slashdot sigs don't count! Otherwise we're all going to have a lot of problems.

    --
    Developers: We can use your help.
  3. Re:Why would it apply here? by Enigma_Man · · Score: 2, Funny

    We had a little bit of a scuffle about 230 years ago that made us no longer subject to British laws.

    I'm trying to remember the name of that, it had some sorta name... I think Nintendo has something to do with it.

    -Jesse
    --
    Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
  4. A clever lawyer eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Since the statute predates the Constitution of the U.S., a clever lawyer could argue it applies here equally."

    So THAT explains why whenever I order tea from Boston, I still have to send a tax to Britain.

    Thanks for clearing that up.

    (And just to be even clearer, while our legal system has its foundations in the English common law, we um, modify it with our own statutes and common law now. It's a little thing called independence.)

    IANAL, but IAALS (i am a law student). Although a grade school history class should be enough to know that the statement in the summary was way off... hmmmm...