There is actually an extensive literature on what digital signatures mean
from a legal point of view. The ABA has been working on that for decades.
Digital signatures are merely a form of electronic signature. And in the US
at least anything that is intended to have the effect of a signature is a
signature for legal purposes.
If you are going to raise legal issues as a reason to do something then go
study what the law actually is. It really isn't hard even in US common law.
It is even simpler in continental law systems.
The problem of digital signatures creating unintended contracts simply does
not exist. Lawyers thought through those issues in the 1990s.
The reason you need signatures in electronic mail is that there is no way I
am going to let encrypted mail through my spam filter without a signature
from someone I trust. Take out the authentication function and the
encryption function fails.
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