A bail bond, with sureties, is essentially a contract between the government on the one side and the accused and his sureties on the other. Under the contract the accused is released into the custody of the sureties on their promise to pay the government a stated sum of money if the accused fails to appear before the court in accordance with its terms.

Historically, the contract of bail, traced to a gradual increase of faith in the honor of a hostage and the consequent relaxation of actual imprisonment, constitutes one of the first appearances of the concept of contract in our law. The early contract of bail differed from the modern bail bond in its mode of execution as it was simply a solemn admission of liability by the sureties made in the presence of an officer authorized to take it. No signatures of the bail was required, and it was not necessary for the person bailed to bind himself as a party. The undertaking to forfeit a particular sum in a written bail bond came aleter in the course of time.

The purpose of a bail bond with sureties is to insure that the accused will appear in court at a given time by requiring others to assume responsibility for him on penalty of forfeiture of their property. In times past, especially when the sureties were friends and relatives of the accused, it was assumed that due to his personal relationship the threat of forfeiture of the surety's proerty would serve as an effective deterrent to the accused's temtation to break the conditions of the bond by flight. On the other hand, it was assumed that this threat would also inspire the surety to keep close watch on the accused to prevent his absconding.