Other Municipal Applications 571/79 Maxim Apartments in a Tax Appeal v. Dina Jerbi, 37(1) 589 (1983), the court referred to an American case law where a document was recognized in which a certain person wrote "I, so-and-so, undertakes....." without attaching his signature as an enforceable deed, and noted that this is not a waiver of a signature but rather a "liberal interpretation of the question of what constitutes a signature in the context of this law".
Other Municipality Applications 4294/90 Estate of the Late Chaya Leah Rinsky v. Rahmani & Co. Finance Ltd., 50(1) 453 (1996) The question of signature by an agent was discussed, inter alia, and the interpretation was adopted according to which a signature on a deed as an agent should be checked according to the deed as a deed in its entirety, and not only according to explicit words next to the signature of the agent, despite the variation of the language of the Ordinance. The court emphasized the impact that exists in practical life on the interpretation that should be given to the Banknotes Ordinance, and noted that "with regard to the signing of corporations - such as the signing of a company through its management - this approach reflects what is customary in practical life. When the deed contains the name of a company and the signature of an administrator below it, the merchants' custom is to view the manager's signature as the signature of an agent and not as the signature of another maker or drawer."
- Hence, the courts agreed to interpret the signature requirement in a liberal and flexible manner, while relating to the legislative purpose of the promissory note signature as a distinctly personal act, to the intentions of the parties and to the accepted practices in commercial life.
Electronic Signature Law
- The Electronic Signature Law was enacted in 2001, and is intended to increase certainty regarding actions performed electronically, in the developing technological era in which signatures can be performed in various ways (see the Electronic Signature Bill, 5760-2000, H.H. 2915, hereinafter: the Electronic Signature Bill).
The law sought to deal with the legal aspects of the signature, both in relation to the signatory's discretion and with regard to his identity, and in its original version it regulated two types of electronic signatures: a secure electronic signature and an approved electronic signature. A secure signature is one in which all of the following are met: uniqueness to the owner of the means of signature; the possibility of ostensibly identifying the owner of the means of signature; production by means of signature that are under the exclusive control of the owner of the means of signature; and the possibility of identifying a change made in the electronic message after the date of the signature. A certified signature is a secure signature that a certifying body has issued a certified electronic certificate regarding the means of authenticating the signature that identifies it.
- Section 2 of the Electronic Signature Law , as originally enacted , provided as follows:
2 (a) If a person's signature on a document is required by legislation, this requirement may be fulfilled, in respect of a document that is an electronic delivery, by means of an electronic signature, provided that it is an approved electronic legislative signature.