The Legal Regulation of Electronic Contracts

Internet as other interventions evolved gradually from military use to civil use, trade and an electronic contracts in which agreement is done with an open communication net through a seen and heard mechanism that facilitate the interaction between the acceptor and the taker. Globally, electronic contracts are negotiable and not obligatory. There is always a possibility to negotiate on these electronic contracts according to the nature of each electronic contact. Electronic contracts are considered international contracts, crossing boundaries, and not confined by boundaries of any country. Electronic contracts may be commercial, civil, or mixed according to the nature of each contract, and the relationship that governs the parties of the contracts. The acceptance in the electronic contract should be obvious and containing all necessary elements. The showed image on the screen of the computer must reflect the real situation for the goods without unexplained or lost items. The acceptance should be clear and explicit. Silence is not considered as acceptance in electronic contracts. Electronic contracts are governed by administrative law which the parties choose. In case there is no agreement between the parties on the law, the judge may extract the hidden well from similar situation and adopt the closest law to the electronic contract based on the place of the contract or the nationality of the parties. For approval of the electronic contact, the Palestinian law deals with the modern communication instruments in the spectrum of exceptions, so it does not obligate the existence of complete written evidence to made it legal. It considers the freedom of obligation in trade goods, taking into account that the nature of the basics of Law of Evidence is completive not forcible, and the parties can agree on its opposite. The signature on the electronic contracts takes different forms depending on its nature, including biometric, numerical, and pen signatures. There are a lot of legislations to govern the type of the signature to give it the needed legal entity. The researcher concluded that electronic signature may be used under the Palestinian Law of Evidence after the agreement of the parties, and this returns to the freedom of the parties to agree on the way to guarantee their activities. Electronic signature is accepted according to the Palestinian law in certain situations like the formal documents, and the documents agreed upon by the parties. However, electronic signature is not accepted according to the Palestinian law in certain sensitive and special situations like Islamic Waqf, wills and its revisions, the disposition of immovable properties, entrusts, and the personal documents.