---
title: O.C.G.A. § 10-7-4. Form of contract immaterial.
collection: code
id: 10-7-4
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 10-7-4 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/10-7-4
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/10-7-4.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/10-7-4/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t10-(v8)-2024-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=1992b47e_0#page=1158
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: COMMERCE AND TRADE / SURETYSHIP / CONTRACT OF SURETYSHIP
---

# O.C.G.A. § 10-7-4. Form of contract immaterial.

The form of the contract is immaterial, provided the fact of suretyship exists.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2128; Code 1868, § 2123; Code 1873, § 2151; Code 1882, § 2151; Civil Code 1895, § 2969; Civil Code 1910, § 3541; Code 1933, § 103-104.

## Editor's Notes

In Massell v. Prudential Ins. Co. of America, 57 Ga. App. 460, 196 S.E. 115 (1938), it was held that this section, under which an accommodation endorser was considered merely a surety, must yield to the former Negotiable Instruments Law, Ga. L. 1924, p. 126, which has in turn been superseded by the commercial paper provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code, O.C.G.A. §§ 11-3-101 through 11-3-805. The UCC provides that a signature in an ambiguous capacity is an endorsement (O.C.G.A. § 11-3-402); that an accommodation party is liable in the capacity in which he has signed, even though the taker knows of the accommodation, where the instrument has been taken for value before it is due (O.C.G.A. § 11-3-415(2)); that oral proof of the accommodation is not admissible against a holder in due course who has no notice of the accommodation to give the accommodation party the benefit of discharges dependent on his character as such, but in other cases is admissible (§ 11-3-415(3)); and that an accommodation party paying the instrument has a right of recourse against the accommodated party (§ 11-3-415(5)), and spells out the liability of makers, drawers, acceptors, endorsers, and guarantors (O.C.G.A. §§ 11-3-413, 11-3-414, and 11-3-416) and how the liability of parties to commercial paper is discharged (§§ 11-3-601 through 11-3-606).

Many cases involving negotiable instruments were decided under this section before the UCC became effective. See, for example, Freeman v. Cherry, 46 Ga. 14 (1872); Camp v. Simmons, 62 Ga. 73 (1878), later appeals, 64 Ga. 726, 65 Ga. 674 (1880), 71 Ga. 54 (1883); Patillo v. Mayer & Glauber, 70 Ga. 715 (1883); Hall v. Capital Bank, 71 Ga. 715 (1883); Parmelee v. Williams, 72 Ga. 42 (1883); Hull v. Myers, 90 Ga. 674, 16 S.E. 653 (1893); Baggs v. Funderburke, 11 Ga. App. 173, 74 S.E. 937 (1912); Bank of LaFayette v. Wardlaw, 20 Ga. App. 741, 93 S.E. 236 (1917); Washington Loan & Banking Co. v. Holliday, 26 Ga. App. 792, 107 S.E. 370, cert. denied, 26 Ga. App. 801 (1921); Taff v. Larey, 29 Ga. App. 631, 116 S.E. 866 (1923); McKibben v. Fourth Nat’l Bank, 32 Ga. App. 222, 122 S.E. 891 (1924); Smith v. Moore, 45 Ga. App. 708, 165 S.E. 765 (1932); Hamby v. Crisp, 48 Ga. App. 418, 172 S.E. 842 (1934).

## Law Reviews

For article, “Enforcing Commercial Real Estate Loan Guaranties,” see 15 (No. 2) Ga. St. B. J. 12 (2009).