Editing Guarantee (section)

==Civil law==
According to various existing [[civil code]]s, a suretyship, when the underlying obligation is "non-valuable", is null and void unless the invalidity is the result of personal incapacity of the principal debtor<ref>Codes Civil, France and Belgium, 2012; Spain, 1824; Portugal, 822; Italy, 1899; Netherlands, 1858; Lower Canada, 1932</ref> In some countries, however, the mere personal incapacity of a minor to borrow suffices to eliminate the guarantee of a loan made to him<ref>Spain, 1824; Portugal, 822, §2, 1535, 1536</ref> The Egyptian codes sanction guarantees expressly entered into "in view of debtor's want of legal capacity" to contract a valid principal obligation <ref>Egyptian Codes, Mixed Suits, 605; Native Tribunals, 496</ref> The Portuguese code retains the surety's liability, in respect of an invalid principal obligation, until the latter has been legally rescinded.{{sfn|de Colyar|1911|p=652}}<ref>art. 822, §I</ref>

According to several codes civil sureties are divided into conventional, legal and judicial,<ref>Codes Civil, France and Belgium, 2015, 2040 et seq.; Spain, 1823; Lower Canada, 1930</ref> while the Spanish code further divides them into gratuitous and for valuable [[consideration]].{{sfn|de Colyar|1911|p=652}}<ref>art. 1, 823</ref>

The German code civil requires the surety's promise to be verified by writing where he has not executed the principal obligation.<ref>art. 766</ref>  The Portuguese code renders a guarantee provable by all the modes established by law for the proof of the principal contract<ref>art. 826</ref> According to most civil codes civil a guarantee like any other contract can usually be made verbally in the presence of witnesses and in certain cases (where for instance considerable sums of money are involved) ''sous signature privee''{{Technical statement|date=December 2013}} or by a judicial or notarial [[legal instrument|instrument]].<ref>''See'' Codes Civil, France and Belgium 1341; Spain, 1244; Portugal 2506, 2513; Italy, 1341 et seq.; Pothier's ''Law of Obligations'', Evans's ed. i. 257; ''Burge on Suretyship'', p. 19; van der Linden's ''Institutes of Holland'', p. 120</ref>  The French and Belgian Codes, moreover, provide that suretyship is not to be presumed but must always be expressed.{{sfn|de Colyar|1911|p=652}}<ref>art. 2015</ref>