纸币本位制以纸币作为流通工具。纸币是指为持有人利益而发行的流通凭证，它代表一笔特定的债务，由发行该纸币的国家或货币当局作担保；若这种纸币可替代金或银，或由金或银作后盾，则称为有保证的纸币。

The paper standard takes paper currency as the tool of circulation. Paper currency is an expression for circulated vouchers issued for the benefit of its bearer, which represent specific debt secured by the State or currency authority that issued it if this paper is a substitute for gold or silver, or secured paper backed by gold or silver.

纸币可以作为国家所拥有的黄金或白银的替代物，并且完全代表它，即支撑这种流通纸币的黄金或白银，与其价值百分之百相等。因此，持有这种代表性纸币的人有权随时按照这一准备金兑换成黄金或白银，不受任何限制或数量的约束。这种代表性货币实际上被视为金属本位制的一种。唯一的区别在于，流通中的不再是黄金或白银本身，而是由这种代表性货币取而代之，以其代表者的身份进入流通。

Paper currency can be a substitute for gold or silver possessed by the State such that it represents it completely i.e. the gold or silver backing this circulating paper represents 100% of this value. So the bearer of this representative paper currency has the right to exchange it into gold or silver, according to this cover, whenever he wants without any restriction or limit. This representative currency is considered, in reality, to be of the metallic system. All that happens is that instead of circulating gold or silver themselves, this representative currency takes their place in circulation in its capacity as their representative.

这种纸币也可以在其价值的一部分上以金或银作为担保，且比例是特定而有限的。这种纸币被称为“担保货币”。尽管如此，它并非完全由金和银作担保，其可信度来自于发行它的权力机构的可信度。其中由金或银担保的部分是代表金或银的货币，而其余未被担保的部分则是有担保的纸币，其流通力取决于人们对发行它的权力机构的信任。

Also, this paper currency can be covered for a part of its value in gold or silver, in a specific and limited proportion. Such paper currency is known as “secured currency.” Despite this it is not covered completely by gold and silver, its trustworthiness results from the trustworthiness in the authority that issues it. The portion within it covered by gold or silver is currency representative of gold or silver, whereas the remaining not covered portion is secured paper currency whose circulation strength depends upon people’s confidence in the authority that issued it.

第三种纸币是完全没有黄金或白银作为储备、也不代表黄金或白银的纸币。这种纸币被称为“强制性纸币”，不能兑换成黄金或白银。它的价值取决于法律赋予它的公共债务清偿效力的强弱。它本身没有内在价值；其价值实际上取决于使其成为强制性货币的法律。如果法律废除了使用它的交易，或者人们对它失去了信心，那么它就会变得一文不值。

The third type of paper currency is paper currency without any gold or silver backing at all, nor is it representative of gold or silver. This is known as “compulsory paper currency” that is not exchangeable for gold or silver. Its value depends upon the strength of the public remission of debt which the law grants to it. It has no intrinsic value in itself; rather its value depends upon the law that obliges it, as compulsory currency. If the law were to abolish transactions involving it or people lost confidence in it, then it would become worthless.