Editing Cheque (section)

==Nature of a cheque==
A cheque is a [[negotiable instrument]] instructing a [[financial institution]] to pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specified [[transactional account]] held in the drawer's name with that institution. Both the drawer and payee may be [[natural person]]s or [[Juristic person|legal entities]]. Cheques are ''order instruments'', and are not in general payable simply to the bearer as [[bearer instrument]]s are, but must be paid to the payee. In some countries, such as the US, the payee may endorse the cheque, allowing them to specify a third party to whom it should be paid.

Cheques are a type of [[Negotiable instrument#Bill of exchange|bill of exchange]] that were developed as a way to make payments without the need to carry large amounts of money. [[Banknote|Paper money]] evolved from [[promissory note]]s, another form of negotiable instrument similar to cheques in that they were originally a written order to pay the given amount to whoever had it in their possession (the "[[Bearer instrument|bearer]]").