Do statements made in an email carry the same legal weight as those made in a letter?

[threebedsemi]

Is anyone aware of the current legal status of email correspondence when compared with hardcopy letter, say for example:
Pat (an accountant) sends one of his clients an email, saying for instance that Pat has taken care of his P35 for the current year, and the client does not need to do anything further,
Or
Michael (a solicitor) sends one of his clients an email in which he advises him to proceed in a certain way with a case,
Do the courts currently differentiate between an email communication and the same information transmitted by letter (on company letterhead, signed etc.) if there was a subsequent dispute between the professional and his client in relation to the information given?
I ask partly as information such the professionals’ company name, contact details, etc may not always appear in an email and it may be considered a less formal means of communication because of this.

 

[HighFlier]

Emails can be and have been used as evidence. It is easy to forge a copy of an email but originals transmitted through Microsoft Office etc have electronic traceability. If I remember correctly a few years ago during the Celtic Tiger there was much ballyhoo about the fact that we were one of the first countries in the world that legally recognises electronic signatures. Albeit very few mails use encrypted electronic signatures.However I think you would have to prove someone else used your email to get out of a commitment which was electronically traceable to your account or machine.

 

[Gervan]

If the professional is operating as a company, the same information must be supplied in any email as in a letter. This is the company number and registered address, names of directors etc.

 

[threebedsemi]

Thanks for the comments.

I ask as sometimes an email (from a professional/company) might be received from their private email address, or there may have been some problem with the jpeg attachment which contains the relevant company details, and so on.

The traceability thing is interesting, as many people do not have a dedicated email address such as 'susan at companyname.ie , and are instead using susan at gmail, hotmail or whatever.

On a related topic, I presume professional advice or comment contained in a text message is also viable as evidence?

 

[Superman]

Thanks for the comments.

I ask as sometimes an email (from a professional/company) might be received from their private email address, or there may have been some problem with the jpeg attachment which contains the relevant company details, and so on.

The traceability thing is interesting, as many people do not have a dedicated email address such as 'susan at companyname.ie , and are instead using susan at gmail, hotmail or whatever.

On a related topic, I presume professional advice or comment contained in a text message is also viable as evidence?

Yes it is - any evidence is acceptable in a court (as in even evidence of gestures, nods, shrugs etc. - through to witnessed documents - as opposed to evidence inadmissible for a breach of a rule of evidence). The reason oral evidence is difficult is that there is less trace of it and exactly what was said and how it was qualified.

The issue with sending from a personal email is whether the email is sent for and on behalf of the company.