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Cheques are not legal tender but a request to your bank to send a payment.

From http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/polici ... guidelines

Legal tender has a very narrow and technical meaning in the settlement of debts. It means that a debtor cannot successfully be sued for non-payment if he pays into court in legal tender. It does not mean that any ordinary transaction has to take place in legal tender or only within the amount denominated by the legislation. Both parties are free to agree to accept any form of payment whether legal tender or otherwise according to their wishes. In order to comply with the very strict rules governing an actual legal tender it is necessary, for example, actually to offer the exact amount due because no change can be demanded.

Interestingly, this definition uses the term 'paid into court.' So, you could pay the sum into court and get a receipt from the court and the debtor could not sue for non-payment. In this case, the debtor may feel it more convenient to issue a receipt, as requested.

on that note

a tenner (and all notes) have on them...

I promise to pay the bearer the sum of £10...so whats the £10 id get?

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

And the House of Lords debated the issue on 18th March 1958!

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lord ... d-receipts

The promise on notes relates back to the gold standard, I think.

In the past, you could go to the Bank of England and demand gold to the value of £10 (in your example). Nowadays, I don't believe it is much more than a quaint relic of bygone days.