A special endorsement and a blank endorsement determine who controls a negotiable instrument after it’s signed: a special endorsement names a specific person or entity (for example, “Pay to John Doe”), which locks the instrument so only that named party can enforce it or further negotiate it by their own endorsement, creating a clear chain of title; a blank endorsement, by contrast, is just a signature with no named payee, which converts the instrument into bearer paper, meaning whoever lawfully