Check

From Encyclopediak

Check, a written order directing a bank or banker to pay the person designated therein or to his order, or to the bearer, a stipulated amount of money on demand; a bill of exchange drawn on a banker payable on demand. A check made payable to the bearer is transferable, and may be presented to the bank by any one without indorsement or identification. A check made payable to some definite person or to his order must be indorsed by that person; that is, his name must be written on the back of the check, before it can be transferred or the money received from the bank. In the latter case the bank must know that the party who receives the money is the one to whom it was made payable, or some one authorized by him to receive it; that is, the person receiving the money must be identified. Checks serve as one form of currency, and their use in the business world for the payment of bills and the transfer of funds is much more common and extensive than is the use of money. Checks are usually, but not necessarily, made out on printed forms. After they have been paid, they are canceled by the bank and charged to the account of the signer, to whom they are periodically returned. A check drawn by one bank upon another is called a draft. See BILL OF EXCHANGE; NEGOTIABLE PAPER.