History of Questioned Document Examination

• Handwriting Identification and the judicial process

• —Historical references indicate that the practice of forgery and related frauds – early as the development of writing.

• —Testimony was admitted in English speaking court.

• —Documents and the Rules of Evidence

• —The relevancy of document depend on authorship/origin.

• —Before origin signature – application of wax seal (to serve as authenticate the document).

• —Prior to 1900

• —Albert S.Orborn credited with launching handwriting identification as a distinct discipline.

• —Typewriting, ink & paper examination.

• —The 20th century – The First 40 years 

• —Increasing volume of judicial decisions – not all members of the legal profession readily accepted the testimony of the expert witness. 

• —Required more skilled witnesses in term of qualification, motivation or attitude. 

• —1940 to 1975 – the next 35 years 

• —Development of manual typewriter, ball point pen, electric typewriter. 

• —The development of forensic science in document examination laboratories.

• —The last 20 years 

• —Improvement of technology in term of identification and discrimination of QDE. 

• —The division of graphologist and forensic questioned document.