There is, of course, overlap between these functional categories. Legal gesture is indicative insofar as it can indicate or identify particular aspects or elements of legal transactions. Most fundamentally, a legal gesture such as raising one's right hand can, in appropraite circumstances, serve as a public signal that a legal change is taking place. This sort of signal is especially useful in noisy social environments - the market place, or the public square where, traditionally, justice is often meted out. More specifically, legal gestures can indicate the party or parties to a legal transaction.
Legal gestures can even indicate the witnesses guaranteeing legal acts.
The performance of a calculated, perhaps even complicated gesture suggests that a gesturor genuinely wishes to accomplish a conveyance, a sale, etc. The gesture simultaneously supports and confirms words spoken. Legal gesture can also evidence or express emotions which accompany or are occasioned by a legal change or relation. Such events are frequently occasions for the experience of strong feelings. Performing a gesture may provide a legal actor with a critical catharsis, an opportunity to release and display emotions attendent upon change in a structured way that consolidates that change and supports its long-term success.