Law Dictionary of Legal Terminology

GUARANTOR

GUARANTOR, contracts. He who makes a guaranty.

2. The guarantor is bound to fulfil the engagement he has entered into, provided the principal debtor does not. He is bound only to the extent that the debtor is, and any payment made by the latter, or release of him by the creditor, will operate as a release of the guarantor; 3 Penna. R. 19; or even if the guarantee should give time to the debtor beyond that contained in the agreement, or substitute a new agreement, or do any other act by which the guarantor's situation would be worse, the obligation of the latter would be discharged. Smith on Mer. Law, 285.

3. A guarantor differs from a surety in this, that the former cannot be sued until a failure on the part of the principal, when sued; while the latter may be sued at the same time with the principal. 10 Watts, 258.