The Impact of Information Technology Development on the Legal Concept A Particular Examination on the Legal concept of 'Signatures'

Abstract

This paper intends to explore the impact of Information technology (IT) development on the legal concept of signatures . To what extent and in which way does it impact on the legal concept of signatures ? This paper attempts to examine this issue from an international and comparative perspective. It was found that IT development has different levels of impact on the legal concept of signatures in different jurisdictions. In the Common Law system such as the UK and the US, it does not change the legal concept of signatures . However, it does put the legal concept on such an important position. On the contrary, IT development changes the legal concept of signatures in the Civil Law system such as Germany and China.