Sureties

• Author: Gary T Trotter
• Pages: 67-74

67

CHAPTER 6

Sureties

1. INTRODUCTION

In the last chapter, I alluded to release orders involving indiv iduals

called “sureties.” As noted there, a surety is someone who pledges

money in support of the release of an accused person. is chapter

explores sureties in more detail, in ter ms of who they might be, what

they are supposed to do, and what happens when things go wrong.

But rst, a little bit of history is required. In m any ways, the his-

tory of Canadian bail is really the histor y of the surety. It is dicult

to pinpoint the exact point in time when bail emerged; however, it

is believed that it predates recorded English law. In the twelfth and

thirteenth centuries, formal bail began to take shape. ose charged

with criminal oences were the responsibility of local sheris, who

were in charge of the jails. e jai ls, which were deplorable to begin

with, were often easy to escape from. W hen this occurred, the sher-

is would be ned. Accordingly, they sought to divest themselves of

this responsibility by releasing prisoners to family or friends who

would promise to produce the accused person in court to face the al-

legations. e people who took charge of the accused became known

as sureties. e obligation was formalized by an understanding that

a nancial price would have to be paid if the person was not brought

to court. Whi le this arrangement developed over a very long period of

time, it is at the root of the modern surety.1

2. THE OBLIGATIONS OF A SURETY

e obligations of a surety essentially trace the purposes of the bail

system. During t he period in which the surety rel ationship gradually

developed, the singular focus of the bail system was to ensure the

attendance of the accused person in court to face the cha rges. But as