en is a true penalty or only liquidated damages. There is nothing to
prevent the parties to a bond from agreeing the damages for a breach,
and if they have done so, the court will not interfere, as it will in
the case of a penalty. The leading case on the subject is _Kemble_ v.
_Farren_ (1829; 6 Bing. 148).

Bonds given to secure the doing of anything which is contrary to the
policy of the law are void. Such, for instance, is a bond given to a
woman for future cohabitation (as distinguished from past cohabitation),
or a marriage brocage bond, that is, a bond given to procure a marriage
between parties. (See the matrimonial agency case, _Hermann_ v.
_Charlesworth_, 1905, 2 K.B. 123). It was not without design that
Shakespeare laid the scene of Shylock's suit on Antonio's bond in a
Venetian court; the bond would have had short shrift in an English
court.

_Post Obit Bonds._--A post obit bond is one given by an expectant heir
or legatee, payable on or after the death of the person from whom the
obligor has expectations. Such a bond, if the obligee has exacted
unconscionable terms, may be set aside.

_Bottomry Bonds._--A bottomry bond is a contract of hypothecation by
which the owner of a ship, or the master as his agent, borrows money
for the use of the ship to meet some emergency, e.g. necessary
repairs, and pledges the ship (or keel or bottom of the ship, _partem
pro toto_) as security for repayment. If the ship safely accomplishes
her voyage, the obligee gets his money back with the agreed interest:
if the ship is totally lost, he loses it altogether.

_Lloyd's Bonds._--Lloyd's bonds are instruments under the seal of a
railway company, admitting the indebtedness of the company to the
obligee to a specified amount for work done or goods supplied, with a
covenant to pay him such amount with interest on a future day. They
are a device by which railway companies were enabled to increase their
indebtedness without technically violating their charter. The name is
derived from the counsel who settled the form of the bond.

_Debenture Bonds._--Debenture bonds are bonds secured only by the
covenant of the company without any floating or fixed charge on the
assets. (See DEBENTURES AND DEBENTURE STOCK.)

_Recognizance._--A recognizance differs from a bond in being entered
into before a court of record and thereby becoming an obligation of
record.

_Heritable bond_ is a Scot