Simply put, a
confession of judgment is a contractual provision providing that if a monetary default occurs in an agreement requiring a party to make payments to another party, the party that has defaulted agrees to the entry of a judgment in the creditor's favor without a trial, or even notice.
A creditor need only have an attorney sign a
confession of judgment to obtain a judgment by confession (assuming that the creditor has the right to such a judgment), and can do so without ever notifying the debtor.
A central empirical finding presented in Neighbors and Strangers is that when colonial citizens began relying with greater frequency on formal, written credit instruments, litigation in the vast majority of cases ended in either
confession of judgment or default.
A variation of a lawsuit under the note is the
confession of judgment lawsuit for money, which allows the lender to immediately obtain a judgment against the borrower.
If possible, include a
confession of judgment clause, which states the debtor agrees to let the creditor enter a judgment against it if it defaults.
This Note presents an empirical examination of the nature of default judgments and
confession of judgment cases in the colonial courts.
Many jurisdictions permit a solution: A "
Confession of Judgment." The
Confession of Judgment gets its name because the debtor "confesses" an amount due to a creditor before any lawsuit is filed, and the creditor can use it to obtain judgment if the debtor does not perform.
Let me give you a small sampling of the many topics addressed: the uniform commercial code (UCC); security agreements; UCC financial statements;
confession of judgment; mortgages; trust receipts; mechanic's liens; statutory judgments; consignments; subordinational agreements; assignments; and more.