Electronic signatures, explained without the legal fog

An electronic signature is any electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to a record that a person adopts with the intent to sign it. That is the actual definition in the U.S. federal ESIGN Act, and it is deliberately broad — a typed name, a drawn squiggle, a checkbox, or a click on a "Sign here" button can all qualify. What makes a signature binding is not how it looks. It is whether the signer intended to sign and whether you can later prove it.

This site explains how that works in practice: the statutes that govern it, the requirements your process has to meet, how the major platforms differ, and the specific rules for real estate, lending, healthcare, and HR. Everything here is written for the person who has to actually get a document signed — not for a law review.

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The four things that make a signature hold up

Across the ESIGN Act, UETA, and the EU's eIDAS regulation, the same themes repeat. A signature is defensible when you can show all four of these:

1. Intent. The signer meant to sign this document — not merely to browse it. This is why a clear "I agree" action beats an ambiguous tap.
2. Consent. The signer agreed to conduct the transaction electronically, and — in consumer transactions — received the required disclosure about hardware and software needed to access the record.
3. Association. The signature is linked to the record it signed. A signature floating in an email is worthless; a signature bound into the document's audit trail is evidence.
4. Retention. An accurate, reproducible copy of the signed record is retained and can be produced later in the form it was signed.

Notice what is missing from that list: an image of handwriting. Courts and statutes care about intent and evidence, not calligraphy. A typed name with a strong audit trail is generally more defensible than a scanned ink signature photocopied into a PDF.

What this site covers

The Law section walks through ESIGN, UETA, eIDAS, and the state-by-state picture. The Compare section pits the major platforms (DocuSign, Dropbox Sign, Adobe Acrobat Sign, PandaDoc) against each other on the things that actually differ — price, API quality, audit trail, and support. The Guides section is practical: signing a PDF, creating a signature, building a workflow, reading an audit trail. The Industries section covers the verticals where the rules get specific.

E-sign.net is also available

Both e-sig.com and e-sig.net are available for acquisition. If you are building in the e-signature, document automation, or legal-tech space, see the acquisition page.