Re:When did we start signing our names to authenticate docum...
by burnafter182 on Friday October 08, 2021 @01:18PM
(#28801622)
As a sort of logical aside:
Split tallies were used, effectively a lock and key mechanism of receipt. A stick was marked with a contract and broken in two. If you've ever broken a piece of wood, you'll know the roughness it embodies is remarkable, and on top of that the wood itself is intrinsically patterned and readily identifiable by even cursory examination. Thus it was virtually impossible to replicate. As to how these things were enforced, I do not know. Paper contracts also leveraged this model of receipt validation for some time.
Re:When did we start signing our names to authenticate docum...
by wsinks on Friday October 08, 2021 @01:25PM
(#28801692)
slow
golf
clap
Really well done, I was amazed initially. But a series of drawings... ok. Buses. MWAHAHAHAHA
Wealthier patrician households shared mail centers to retrieve messages sent from other provinces. When entering the mail center, you had to provide a series of code words that were changed every time new consuls were chosen. Then if the code words were accepted, the mail house would take a print of the right thumb and compare it against ink prints on file. If a patrician hadn't visited a mail house in a while, there was a third step to make extra sure of the patrician's authenticity. He would be shown a series of drawings, and would have to identify which ones contained buses.