Accessory Contract

One made for assuring the performance of a prior contract, either by the same parties or by others, such as suretyship, mortgages, and pledges.

It is a general rule that payment of the debt due or the performance of a thing required to be performed by the first or principal contract is a full discharge of such accessory obligation.

An accessory agreement to guaranty an original contract which is void has no binding effect.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.