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Surety not bound beyond contract

Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court

Definitions from Case Law

From 39 U.S. 201 - Samuel Sprigg v. The Bank of Mount Pleasant · 1840Most cited · 31 citing opinions

It is no doubt a sound and well-settled principle, that sureties are not to be made responsible beyond their contract; and any agreement with the creditor, which varies essentially the terms of the contract, without the assent of the surety, will discharge him from his responsibility. But this principle cannot apply where the surety has, by his own act, exchanged his character of surety for that of principal.

How often courts cite the case defining “Surety not bound beyond contract”

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Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “Surety not bound beyond contract” — 30 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.