Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) Where a signature is written or placed on a cheque as that of the drawer without the authority of the person whose signature it purports to be (in this subsection referred to as the relevant person ), the signature is wholly inoperative as that of the relevant person unless:
(a) the person against whom it is sought to assert a right on the cheque is estopped from denying the genuineness of the signature or the existence of authority for the signature, as the case requires; or
(b) the signature is ratified or adopted by the relevant person;
but the signature operates as the signature of the person who wrote or placed it on the cheque in favour of any person who, in good faith and without notice that it had been written or placed on the cheque without the authority of the relevant person, pays the cheque or takes the cheque for value.
(2) Subject to sections 74 and 92, subsection 93(2), section 94 and subsections 95(1) and (3) and 98(1), where a signature is written or placed on a cheque otherwise than as that of the drawer without the authority of the person whose signature it purports to be (in this subsection referred to as the relevant person ), the signature is wholly inoperative as that of the relevant person unless:
(a) the person against whom it is sought to assert a right on the cheque is estopped from denying the genuineness of the signature or the existence of authority for the signature, as the case requires; or
(b) the signature is ratified or adopted by the relevant person;
but the signature operates as the signature of the person who wrote or placed it on the cheque in favour of any person who, in good faith and without notice that it had been written or placed on the cheque without the authority of the relevant person, pays the cheque or takes the cheque for value.