01-06-2019, 10:23 AM
This thread reminds me of an story about a public notary (which in Spain is a very important public functionary position) who I know who has an ornate "official" signature, and a much simpler personal squiggle which he uses for everyday purposes in a personal capacity. Quite common it seems.
Older (or posher) notaries still like to incorporate their "ius sigilli", a personal sign, into their more important signatures, although I am told that most of the profession nowadays just use a squiggle over the official stamps. The ius sigilli used to be personal to each notary and recorded by the government from the early middle ages onwards.
This thread allows me to trot out this wonderful example of a Notorial Signature from the 18th century, which was obviously designed to be used by someone being paid by the hour:
The signature is the bit to either side, and the ius sigilli is the rose in the centre.
Anyway, my vague point is that the idea that a signature is personal and inmutable across space and time is nonsense, signatures change naturally over time and circumstances without people even being aware of it. That's why we invented stamps and seals, to accurately repeat and present the information of the sealer / stamper.
Older (or posher) notaries still like to incorporate their "ius sigilli", a personal sign, into their more important signatures, although I am told that most of the profession nowadays just use a squiggle over the official stamps. The ius sigilli used to be personal to each notary and recorded by the government from the early middle ages onwards.
This thread allows me to trot out this wonderful example of a Notorial Signature from the 18th century, which was obviously designed to be used by someone being paid by the hour:
The signature is the bit to either side, and the ius sigilli is the rose in the centre.
Anyway, my vague point is that the idea that a signature is personal and inmutable across space and time is nonsense, signatures change naturally over time and circumstances without people even being aware of it. That's why we invented stamps and seals, to accurately repeat and present the information of the sealer / stamper.