A written promise of one person to do something or to pay a sum of money to a specified person, on either a certain date or upon the occurence, or barring the occurence, of a specified event.
In a 1922 court decision out of Manitoba, Burnett v Karanko, published at 66 D.L.R. 574, a bond was defined as:
“A bond, however, is a very common form of obligation.
"It consists of a definite promise in writing under seal on the part of some person, who is called the obligor, to pay some other person, who is called the obligee, a definite sum of money, subject, however, to conditions which might void the obligation.
"There can be no bond without an obligee.”
More recently, in 1999 (D'Aoust (Paul) Construction v Markel Insurance Co. of Canada published at canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/1999/1999canlii1732/1999canlii1732.html), the Ontario Court of Appeal adopted these words to describe a bond:
"A bond is simply a deed (a deed being a document in writing on paper which is signed, sealed, and delivered ...) whereby one person undertakes to pay a specified sum of money to another, either immediately or at a future date."
An example of a bond is a form required by the court rules in British Columbia in regards to the administration of an estate, form 73 as of 2008, in an amount double the value of the estate. The form is in the following words:
"ADMINISTRATION BOND. We, AB, of Fort Nelson, British Columbia; lawyer and CD, social worker of Courtenay, British Columbia, are jointly and severally bound unto the Registrar of the Supreme Court of British Columbia at Vancouver in the sum of $1,000,000 to be paid to the registrar, for which payment we bind ourselves and each of us, for the whole, our heirs, executors, and administrators.
"The condition of this obligation is that if the above named AB and CD, the intended administrator of all the estate which by law devolves to and vests in the personal representative of the deceased, EF, when lawfully required, (a) makes a true and perfect inventory of the estate which has or shall come into his or her possession, control, or knowledge, or into the possession or control of any other person for him or her, (b) exhibits the inventory to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, (c) well and truly collects and administers the estate according to law, (d) makes a true account of his or her administration, and (e) lodges the grant of administration in the court, then this obligation will be void and of no effect, but otherwise will remain in full force ."
Bonds frequently involve a third party, as in a surety bond, three-party agreement where the obligor or third party (usually an insurance or specialized surety bond company) guarantees to the obligee the performance of another party's obligation). See surety and surety bond for more information.