Baseline
Definition
The imaginary line on which letters rest; can be straight, ascending, descending, convex, concave or undulating.
- Field
- Handwriting examination
- Definition
- The line on which letters rest
- Possible shapes
- Straight, ascending, descending, convex, concave, undulating
- Type
- Class characteristic used in comparison
Common questions
Why does baseline shape matter in a handwriting comparison?+
A writer's baseline habit tends to stay consistent across samples written under similar conditions, so a consistent ascending or undulating baseline across known and questioned writing supports common authorship, while an unexplained mismatch raises a question the examiner has to account for.
Can a person's baseline change without indicating a different writer?+
Yes. Writing surface, ruled versus unruled paper, posture, and fatigue can all shift baseline behaviour, so an examiner checks whether known exemplars were produced under comparable conditions before treating a baseline difference as significant.
Related terms
- ASTM E2290
- ASTM International standard guide for examination of handwritten items; lists the 21 discriminating elements that the examiner reports on.
- Class Characteristic
- A feature shared by an entire group of objects (every shoe of one model has the same sole tread; every tire of...
- Exemplar (Standard)
- Authentic specimen writing of the suspect used for comparison. Two classes: request (taken under examiner control) and collected (pre-existing genuine writings).
- Handwriting
- A neuromuscular act in which graphic forms are produced on a surface; the product of motor memory built up through years of...
- Individual Characteristic
- A characteristic unique to a specific typewriter unit arising from manufacturing variation or service wear; used to identify or eliminate a specific...
- Line Quality
- The overall fluency, rhythm and pressure variation of a stroke. Genuine writing has smooth, rhythmic, pressure-modulated lines; forgeries show tremor, blunt starts...
- Pen Lift and Hiatus
- Pen lift is a deliberate stop and re-start within or between letters; hiatus is a gap left in a stroke that should...
- Ratio
- Proportional relationship between the heights of small letters, capitals and ascenders/descenders.
- Retrace
- Re-tracing of a stroke back over its original path, common in letters like d, t and lower-loop closures.
- Slant
- Angle of letters relative to the baseline (right-slant, vertical, left-slant). A habit-driven class plus individual feature.