Corporate & Securities Law

“Signatory”

By Ken Adams

The word signatory is ambiguous. Black’s Law Dictionary defines signatory as “A party that signs a document, personally or through an agent, and thereby becomes a party to an agreement.” But it’s also used to mean someone who physically signs a contract, whether as a party or on behalf of party. For example, after “Title” under the contract signature line for an entity one sometimes sees “Authorized Signatory.”

I’m unaware of any instance of this ambiguity resulting in confusion in a contract, but it could result in confusion in general writing, so you might want to take avoiding action. For instance, more often than not in writing MSCD I used “party to a contract” and “person signing a contract” rather than signatory.

Full post as published by AdamsDrafting on April 23, 2009 (boomark / email).