Marta Moreno Lobera Jul 3, 2012:

"In the US, cheques (spelled "checks") are governed by Article 3 of the Uniform Commercial Code, under the rubric of negotiable instruments.

An order check — the most common form in the US — is payable only to the named payee or his or her endorsee, as it usually contains the language "Pay to the order of (name)."

A **bearer check** is payable to anyone who is in possession of the document: this would be the case if the cheque does not state a payee, or is **payable to "bearer" or to "cash" or "to the order of cash"**, or if the cheque is payable to someone who is not a person or legal entity, for example if the payee line is marked "Happy Birthday".

A counter check is a bank cheque given to customers who have run out of cheques or whose cheques are not yet available. It is often left blank — hence sometimes called a "blank check", though this term has other uses — and is used for purposes of withdrawal."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheque