<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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--></style></head><body lang=EN-AU link=blue vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Hi Allen,</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>You wrote:</p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>> At any moment, both correspondents have a complete record of everything<br>> the other has acknowledged "on the record"<br><br>Alice signs the contract and sends it to Bob for his signature. A few months later, Bob claims he signed the contract and returned it the same day. How do you propose proving the time that Bob signed the contract, if his email client can simply forge the time sent header, and Alice's can simply forge the time received, or forge the unacknowledged messages saying "Hey, where's the signed contract?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0cm'><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Firstly, when Alice signs the email/document there is no contract. She actually signs an offer which if accepted by Bob will convert into a contract as then and only then is there a meeting of minds to form an agreement. For there to be an acceptance at law it must in most cases (Postal rule is an exception) be communicated to and received by the offeror.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>So there appears to be an impass as Alice claims she did not receive the acceptance, which at law is difficult. It is from an evidential perspective difficult to prove the negative which in this case is that Alice did not receive the fully signed document thus forming the contract. On the otherhand, Bob has the easier task in proving the positive as he only has to prove that he signed the document and sent it but also that Alice received the signed document.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>From a fraud perspective, Bob could alter the headers showing that he sent the document but how does he prove that Alice received the signed document? Does he set the receipt acknowledgement flag when sending the email/document?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Obviously, a three way handshake could prove this but I do not know where this has been implemented for document signing.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Kind Regards<br><br>Dr. Adrian McCullagh<br>Ph.D. LL.B. (Hons) B.App. Sc. (Computing)<br><br>ODMOB Lawyers<br>Email: ajmccullagh57@gmail.com<br>Email: amccullagh@live.com<br>MOB: +61 401 646 486<br>SKYPE: admac57<br><br>The contents of this email are confidential between the sender and the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient then no rights are granted to you because of this error and you are requested to promptly inform the sender of the error and to promptly destroy all copies of the email in your power, possession or control. The sender reserves all rights concerning this email including any privilege, copyright and confidentiality associated with this email. Even though an email signature block has been appended to this email, and despite the Electronic Transactions Act (Qld) or the Electronic Transactions Act (Cth), the signature block does not exhibit the senders intention to be bound by an offer previously sent by the intended recipient, unless the email specifically states otherwise.</p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0cm'><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>