BSA Section 41 — Opinion as to handwriting and signature, when relevant
CHAPTER II RELEVANCY OF FACTS — Judgments of Courts when relevant
General
Summary
Sub-section (1) deals with handwritten documents. When a court needs to decide who wrote or signed a document, the opinion of anyone who is acquainted with that person's handwriting is a relevant fact. This means the court can consider that person's view on whether the document was or was not written or signed by the person in question.
The Explanation clarifies what it means to be acquainted with someone's handwriting. A person is considered acquainted if they have seen the person write, or if they have received documents supposedly written by that person in reply to letters they themselves wrote or caused to be written to that person, or if, in the ordinary course of business, documents supposedly written by that person have been regularly submitted to them.
The Illustration gives an example. If the question is whether a letter is in the handwriting of A, a merchant in Itanagar, then the opinions of B, a merchant in Bengaluru who has corresponded with A, C, B's clerk who examined and filed B's correspondence, and D, B's broker to whom B habitually showed A's letters for advice, are all relevant. This is so even though none of B, C, or D ever saw A write.
Sub-section (2) deals with electronic signatures. When a court needs to form an opinion about the electronic signature of any person, the opinion of the Certifying Authority that issued the Electronic Signature Certificate for that signature is a relevant fact.
Official Text
(1) When the Court has to form an opinion as to the person by whom any document was written or signed, the opinion of any person acquainted with the handwriting of the person by whom it is supposed to be written or signed that it was or was not written or signed by that person, is a relevant fact.
Explanation.—A person is said to be acquainted with the handwriting of another person when he has seen that person write, or when he has received documents purporting to be written by that person in answer to documents written by himself or under his authority and addressed to that person, or when, in the ordinary course of business, documents purporting to be written by that person have been habitually submitted to him.
Illustration. The question is, whether a given letter is in the handwriting of A, a merchant in Itanagar. B is a merchant in Bengaluru, who has written letters addressed to A and received letters purporting to be written by him. C, is B's clerk whose duty it was to examine and file B's correspondence. D is B's broker, to whom B habitually submitted the letters purporting to be written by A for the purpose of advising him thereon. The opinions of B, C and D on the question whether the letter is in the handwriting of A are relevant, though neither B, C nor D ever saw A write.
(2) When the Court has to form an opinion as to the electronic signature of any person, the opinion of the Certifying Authority which has issued the Electronic Signature Certificate is a relevant fact.
