The definition of a legal signature

Just a note about what constitutes a legal signature for employment docs.

* Why does the Federal Government recognize electronic signatures? As early as 1951, the Federal Government recognized that a signature did not have to be handwritten and that "any symbol adopted as one's signature when affixed with his knowledge and consent is a binding and legal signature."
(Comptroller General (CG) Decision B- 104590, September 12, 1951.)
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
http://www.opm.gov/perform/articles/1999/feb99-7.asp

* Under the common law, any symbol executed or adopted by a party with a present intent to be bound by or to authenticate a record will suffice to create a legal signature.
U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
http://www.banking.senate.gov/97_10hrg/102897/witness/greenwd.htm

* The U.S. Congress has enacted the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN), S. 761 , the text of which is available at http://thomas.loc.gov. E-SIGN says that a legal signature is any symbol, including an electronic symbol, adopted with the intent to take responsibility . E-SIGN declares state law to be preempted to the extent it is inconsistent with E-SIGN.