indorsement

[From Indorse; cf. Endorsement.]
[Written also endorsement.]

1. The act of writing on the back of a note, bill, or other written instrument.

2. That which is written on the back of a note, bill, or other paper, as a name, an order for, or a receipt of, payment, or the return of an officer, etc.; a writing, usually upon the back, but sometimes on the face, of a negotiable instrument, by which the property therein is assigned and transferred. Story. Byles. Burrill.

3. Sanction, support, or approval; as, the indorsement of a rumor, an opinion, a course, conduct.

Blank indorsement. See under Blank.

A signature on a commercial paper or document.

An indorsement on a negotiable instrument, such as a check or a promissory note, hasthe effect of transferring all the rights represented by the instrument to another individual. The ordinary manner in which an individual indorses a check is by placing his or her signature on the back of it; however, it is valid even if the signature is placed somewhere else, such as on a separate paper, known as an allonge, which provides a space for a signature.

The term indorsement is also spelled endorsement.