undertaking:
n. (14c)
Broadly, that which one has agreed to do. Technically, an obligation in writing binding the signatories to pay such an amount as shall be adjudged due. General American Industries, Inc. v County Court of Clear Creek County, 136 Colo 86, 316 P2d 565.
Although the essential purpose of an undertaking is the same as that of a bond, and an undertaking with security is in common usage and in the language of the law, a bond, the dissimilarity in terms is fundamental. An undertaking has to do with amounts to be determined, whereas a bond has to do with liquidated amounts. 12 Am J2d Bonds § 1.
The distinction between a bond and an undertaking is that the principal should sign the former and that he is not required to sign the latter. Russell v Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. 37 Mont 1, 94 P 488, 501. [1]
1. In a contract, a promise by one of the parties.
Compare mutual promises.
2. A person’s written obligation. EXAMPLES: a note; a draft.
3. Any promise or pledge.
4 Any venture, particularly a business venture.
5. Any endeavor.
6. The business of a funeral director. [2]
l. A promise, pledge, or engagement.
2. A bail bond. [3]
Excerpt from Joseph H. Beale Jr.’s Gratuitous Undertakings (1891 ):
“An undertaking is the entrance of two parties into such relationship as that one party, on account of the bare relationship unaided by any agreement, has a new duty to perform toward the other; he undertakes a new duty. . . . [T]he violation of an undertaking is not a tort, properly so called. It is a careful and exact use of legal language to call an undertaking a consensual obligation; it is a burden into which the obligor must voluntarily enter.” [4]
undertake:
vb. (13c)
1. To take on an obligation or task <he has undertaken to chair the committee on legal aid for the homeless>.
2. To give a formal promise; guarantee <the merchant undertook that the goods were waterproof>.
3. To act as surety for (another); to make oneself responsible for (a person, fact, or the like) <her husband undertook her appearance in court>. [3]
References:
Disclaimer: All material throughout this website is compiled in accordance with Fair Use.
[1]: Black’s Law Dictionary Deluxe Tenth Edition by Henry Campbell Black & Editor in Chief Bryan A. Garner. ISBN: 978-0-314-62130-6
[2]: Ballantine’s Law Dictionary with Pronunciations
Third Edition by James A. Ballantine (James Arthur 1871-1949). Edited by William S. Anderson. © 1969 by THE LAWYER’S CO-OPERATIVE PUBLISHING COMPANY. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 68-30931
[3]: Ballantine’s Law Dictionary Legal Assistant Edition
by Jack Ballantine (James Arthur 1871-1949). Doctored by Jack G. Handler, J.D. © 1994 Delmar by Thomson Learning. ISBN 0-8273-4874-6.
[4]: Joseph H. Beale Jr., Gratuitous Undertakings, 5 Harv. L. Rev. 222, 223-24 (1891 ).
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