A computer-implemented method of managing role-based digital rights in a computer system, the method comprising: verifying a legal status of a first user seeking to act as a registration authority by sending a status verification request as a datagram in a predefined format to a licensing body server that stores status information regarding the legal status of the first user and wherein the licensing body server is programmed to recognize the predefined format and automatically search and obtain the status information to ascertain that the first user is licensed to act as the registration authority; verifying a legal status of an organization having a hierarchical structure of roles by sending a status verification request to a status verification server that stores status information regarding the legal status of the organization verified by the registration authority or by any other registration authority deriving authority from an original registration authority; if the legal statuses of the first user and the organization are verified, permitting by a document-interaction and transaction management application, user input from the user acting as registration authority to create an account for the organization within the document-interaction and transaction management application that enables interaction with electronic documents securely stored in a virtual vault and electronic transactions to be performed for the organization; if the legal statuses of the first user and the organization are not verified, preventing, by the document-interaction and transaction management application, the user acting as registration authority from creating the account for the organization; verifying a legal status of a first member of the organization by sending a status verification request to the status verification server, the first member having been verified by the registration authority or by any other registration authority deriving authority from the original registration authority, wherein the registration authority also verifies that the first member has a legal capacity to act in a first role; and if the legal status of the first member is verified, permitting, by the document-interaction and transaction management application, user input from the user acting as registration authority to define the first role within the organization for the first member, the first role conferring a first authority to act on behalf of the organization, wherein the first authority of the first member is predicated on the user acting as registration authority; if the legal status of the first member is not verified, preventing, by the document-interaction and transaction management application, the user acting as registration authority from defining the first role within the organization for the first member. verifying a legal status of a first user seeking to act as a registration authority by sending a status verification request as a datagram in a predefined format to a licensing body server that stores status information regarding the legal status of the first user and wherein the licensing body server is programmed to recognize the predefined format and automatically search and obtain the status information to ascertain that the first user is licensed to act as the registration authority; verifying a legal status of an organization having a hierarchical structure of roles by sending a status verification request to a status verification server that stores status information regarding the legal status of the organization verified by the registration authority or by any other registration authority deriving authority from an original registration authority; if the legal statuses of the first user and the organization are verified, permitting by a document-interaction and transaction management application, user input from the user acting as registration authority to create an account for the organization within the document-interaction and transaction management application that enables interaction with electronic documents securely stored in a virtual vault and electronic transactions to be performed for the organization; if the legal statuses of the first user and the organization are not verified, preventing, by the document-interaction and transaction management application, the user acting as registration authority from creating the account for the organization; verifying a legal status of a first member of the organization by sending a status verification request to the status verification server, the first member having been verified by the registration authority or by any other registration authority deriving authority from the original registration authority, wherein the registration authority also verifies that the first member has a legal capacity to act in a first role; and if the legal status of the first member is verified, permitting, by the document-interaction and transaction management application, user input from the user acting as registration authority to define the first role within the organization for the first member, the first role conferring a first authority to act on behalf of the organization, wherein the first authority of the first member is predicated on the user acting as registration authority; if the legal status of the first member is not verified, preventing, by the document-interaction and transaction management application, the user acting as registration authority from defining the first role within the organization for the first member.