surety

The word has two common uses. In contract, the surety is the person who gives a guarantee: under Section 126 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 the three parties to a contract of guarantee are the surety, the principal debtor and the creditor. The surety's liability is co-extensive with that of the principal debtor unless the contract says otherwise (Section 128), and a surety who pays steps into the creditor's shoes (Section 140).

In criminal procedure, a surety is a person who signs a bond undertaking that an accused released on bail will appear in court, and who forfeits the bond amount if the accused absconds. A surety may apply to be discharged from the bond.

Example

The court released the accused on bail on his executing a personal bond with one surety for a like amount.

In Indian law

• Sections 126, 128 and 140, Indian Contract Act, 1872
• Section 2(1)(d), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023: “bail bond” means an undertaking for release with surety

See also

guarantee · bail · subrogation

Read more in the study notes

• Rights of a banker: lien, set-off, appropriation and charges (Banking Law)
• Holder and holder in due course, parties to instruments, their liability and payment in due course (Banking Law)
• Lending by banks: principles, priority sector, securities, interest and penalty (Banking Law)
• Definitions, classification of offences, and the courts, prosecution and police under the BNSS (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
• Arrest: concept, procedure, safeguards, proclamation and handcuffing (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
• Processes to compel appearance and production of things (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)