joint and several - words that are used to mean that when two or more persons sign a document jointly and severally to pay any money or to perform some action, they are all bound, both together as a group and separately as independent persons. A creditor has better rights in law when debtors or guarantors are jointly and severally liable than when they are only jointly liable, joint and several liability - when dealing with the accounts of a partnership or a joint account, it is usual for the banker to have a clause in the mandate opening the account to include the joint and several clause. This allows the bank a right of action against each individual account holder until the debt has been fully paid