Jointly and Severally

1. A legal term describing a partnership in which individual decisions are bound to all parties involved and thus undivided.

2. A term used in underwriting syndicates to refer to the distinct responsibility of individual companies to sell a certain portion of unsold new issue.

Investopedia Says:
1. When an investor authorizes power of attorney to two separate lawyers jointly and severally, both lawyers can make binding decisions without the approval of the other lawyer.

2. For example, an underwriter who has jointly and severally agreed to a 30% stake in the sale of a new issue must sell 30% of any remaining unsold portion, even if that underwriter has already sold more than this amount in the initial sale. All members of the syndicate are responsible for any leftover shares.

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In general: legal phrase used in definitions of liability meaning that an obligation may be enforced against all obligators jointly or against any one of them separately.

Securities: term used to refer to municipal bond underwritings where the account is undivided and syndicate members are responsible for unsold bonds in proportion to their participations. In other words, a participant with 5% of the account would still be responsible for 5% of the unsold bonds, even though that member might already have sold 10%. See also Severally But Not Jointly.