surety bond

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A guarantee issued by a surety agency on behalf of a client, requiring the agency to pay a sum of money to a third party in the event the client fails to fulfill certain obligations.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun law : A bond issued by one party, the surety, guaranteeing that he will perform certain acts promised by another or pay a stipulated sum, up to the bond limit, in lieu of performance, should the principle fail to perform.
• noun law : In a criminal case, the surety (or bail) bond assures the appearance of the defendant or the repayment of bail forfeited upon the defendant's failure to appear in court.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a bond given to protect the recipient against loss in case the terms of a contract are not filled; a surety company assumes liability for nonperformance