Legal disclaimers at the bottom of emails are rarely enforceable, according to judges in the US and EU. Companies include them because others do. Electronic signatures are usually legally binding, unlike outdated laws such as a $3 fine for appliances in North Carolina and a ban on butter substitutes in Wisconsin. A 1307 British statute declared that the king owned the head of any dead whale found on British shores, while the queen owned the tail.
The automated legal disclaimers sent at the bottom of so many emails are almost never enforceable. This is true both in the United States and in the European Union, where several judges have ruled that the sender of an email cannot force a contractual relationship on the recipient simply by inserting a disclaimer, which is what should happen for the disclaimer to be binding. . According to The Economist, the reason many companies insist on including disclaimers is simply because most of their peers do.
Other American law oddities:
An outdated North Carolina law imposes a $3 US dollar (USD) fine on any appliance sold, and in Wisconsin, it’s still illegal to serve butter substitutes in prison.
While legal disclaimers at the bottom of emails aren’t legally binding, most of the time electronic signatures are. This isn’t a new trend: Telegraphed signatures were accepted as legally binding as early as the mid-1800s.
Weird Laws Aren’t Limited to the U.S. For example, a 1307 statute from Great Britain declared that the head of any dead whale found on British shores was the property of the king and the tail belonged to the queen.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
