This section is from the book "The Law Of Contracts", by William Herbert Page. Also available from Amazon: Commercial Contracts: A Practical Guide to Deals, Contracts, Agreements and Promises.
No special form of signature is required. On this point the law of the negotiable contract seems to be the same as that of the ordinary written contract.1 It seems that a signature by mark,2 or by initials,3 or by an abbreviation,4 or by a misspelling of his name,5 or by a stamp,6 or by printed signature in facsimile,7 or by figures which indicate the party who signs the instrument,8 or by a business name,9 are each sufficient if intended as signatures. The signature by a fictitious name, under which the signer did not do business, is not sufficient to impose upon such signer a liability arising out of the instrument.10 To attempt to hold him upon the instrument is analogous to attempting to add a party to a negotiable instrument by fictitious evidence.11
 
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