GUARANIS

guaranis, a tribe and stock of south american indians, having their home in paraguay, uruguay and on the brazilian coast. the guaranis had developed some civilization before the arrival of the spaniards, and being a peaceable people quickly submitted. they form to-day the chief element in the populations of paraguay and uruguay. owing to its patronage by the jesuit missionaries the guarani language became a widespread medium of communication, and in a corrupted form is still the common language in paraguay. guarantee (sometimes spelt "guarantie" or "guaranty"; an o. fr. form of "warrant," from the teutonic word which appears in german as _wahren_, to defend or make safe and binding), a term more comprehensive and of higher import than either "warrant" or "security," and designating either some international treaty whereby claims, rights or possessions are secured, or more commonly a mere private transaction, by means of which one person, to obtain some trust, confidence or credit for another, engages to be answerable for him. in english law, a guarantee is a contract to answer for the payment of some debt, or the performance of some duty, by a third person who is _primarily_ liable to such payment or performance. it is a _collateral_ contract, which does not extinguish the original liability or obligation to which it is accessory, but on the contrary is itself rendered null and void should the latter fail, as without a principal there can be no accessory. the liabilities of a surety are in law dependent upon those of the principal debtor, and when the latter cease the former do so likewise (_per_ collins, l.j., in _stacey_ v. _hill_, 1901, 1 k.b., at p. 666; see _per_ willes, j., in _bateson_ v. _gosling_, 1871, l.r. 7