The means of discovering and demonstrating forged handwriting are as
varied as the methods employed in its execution, and it may be some
comfort to know that the cunning of the forger is more than matched by
the skill and ability of the expert.

The ordinary method of identifying handwriting consists in the
"comparison of hands." This, however, is only admitted in courts of
justice under certain limitations. The genuineness of a disputed
writing can be proved by a witness who has seen its execution, or by
comparison with correspondence received in the regular course of
business, or by comparisons with disputed specimens of the alleged
handwriting, which must also be in evidence. Disputed signatures may
be compared with other signatures acknowledged to be genuine, or with
letters or documents, the genuineness of which is unquestioned. In
arriving at conclusions many things are to be considered, the form of
the letters, their manner of combination, evidences of habit, etc.

Another method of detecting forgery is afforded by the internal
evidences of fraud of the writing itself, with or without the aid of
comparison with genuine writing. These evidences may consist of
alterations, erasures, additions, crowding, etc., as above referred
to; tracing a genuine writing by means of ink or pencil, afterwards
retraced, etc.

The copy of a genuine signature may be free-hand or composite, by
which is meant that the writing is produced discontinuously or in
parts. Comparison of the separate letters of the doubtful specimen of
writing with the separate letters of the genuine writing of the
supposed imitator or imitated always exhibits less uniformity if