Summons
A summons (also known in England and Wales as a claim form and in the Australian state of New South Wales as a court attendance notice (CAN)) is a legal document issued by a court (a judicial summons) or by an administrative agency of government (an administrative summons) for various purposes.
Judicial summons
A judicial summons is served on a person involved in a legal proceeding. Legal action may be in progress against the person, or the person's presence as witness may be required.
The summons announces a date by which the person or persons summoned must either appear in court, or respond in writing to the court or the opposing party or parties. The summons is the descendant of the writ of the common law. It replaces the former procedure in common-law countries by which the plaintiff actually had to ask the sheriff to arrest the defendant in order for the court to obtain personal jurisdiction in both criminal and civil actions.
Types of summonses
Citation/claim (legal term)
A citation, traffic violation ticket, or notice to appear is a type of summons prepared and served at the scene of the occurrence by a law enforcement official, compelling the appearance of a defendant before the local magistrate within a certain period of time to answer for a minor traffic infraction, misdemeanor, or other summary offence. Failure to appear within the allotted period of time is a separate crime of failure to appear.
In
In the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, law enforcement officials may deal with certain minor offences, such as littering, by issuing a fixed penalty notice, colloquially called an "on-the-spot fine", although legally they are not fines. They allow the recipient to avoid going to court by paying a penalty fixed by statute. If such a notice is ignored or disputed, a court summons will be issued as for any other offence.
Civil summons
A civil summons is most often accompanied by a complaint. Depending on the type of summons, there is often an option to endorse a summons so that the entity being served may be identified. In the court system in California, for civil unlimited cases in the superior court, a summons will often have these options to endorse:
- as an individual;
- as the person sued under the fictitious name of __________________;
- on behalf of (usually for a company); or
- by personal delivery on __________
Administrative summons
One example of an administrative summons is found in the tax law of the United States. The Internal Revenue Code authorizes the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to issue a summons for a taxpayer—or any person having custody of books of account relating to a business of a taxpayer—to appear before the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate (generally, this means the IRS employee who issued the summons) at the time and place named in the summons.[2] The person summoned may be required to produce books, papers, records, or other data, and to give testimony under oath before an IRS employee.[3]
The IRS is also empowered to issue the section 7602 summons for the purpose of "inquiring into any offense connected with the administration or enforcement of the internal revenue laws".[4]
The summons may be enforced by a court order,[5] and the law provides a criminal penalty of up to one year in prison or a fine, or both, for failure to obey the summons,[6] except that the person summoned may, to the extent applicable, assert a privilege against self incrimination or other evidentiary privileges, if applicable.
In the U.S. immigration court system, a "Notice to Appear" is an administrative summons ordering a respondent to appear before an immigration court for removal proceedings.
Summonses by jurisdictions
Australia
In the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) the service of a court attendance notice can be issued in a number of ways, the most common of which is by the
England and Wales
Historically, in early English law, a summons was called an auxilium curiae, although this term is now obsolete.[citation needed][8]
In
From 1832 to 1980, a writ of summons in England and Wales began with the name of the court, case number, the word "Between", and the names of the parties to the case. This was followed by the name and full title of the current monarch, the word "To:", the defendant's name and their city of residence, and then the royal command, starting with the royal we: "WE COMMAND YOU that within 14 days after service of this Writ on you, inclusive of the date of service, you do cause an appearance to be entered for you in an action at the suit of [plaintiff's name] and take notice that in default of you so doing the Plaintiff may proceed therein, and judgment may be given in your absence". Next came the word "Witness," then the name and title of the Lord Chancellor, and the date on which the writ was issued.[11]
The traditional writ language was changed in 1980 at the insistence of Lord Chancellor Hailsham, who felt that a command from the monarch was too intimidating for ordinary laypeople.[9]
Therefore, as of 1992, a writ of summons simply gave notice, in lieu of the traditional royal command: "This Writ of Summons has been issued against you by the above-named Plaintiff in respect of the claim set out on the back. Within 14 days after the service of this Writ upon you, counting the day of service, you must either satisfy the claim or return to the Court Office mentioned below the accompanying Acknowledgement of Service stating therein whether you intend to contest these proceedings." This was followed by a paragraph warning of the risk of entry of default judgment. The writ was no longer witnessed by the Lord Chancellor and in lieu of that simply stated which court office had issued the writ.[12]
In 1999, the writ of summons was replaced with the claim form by the Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (CPR). This was part of the CPR's reforms to simplify legal terminology; at the same time, the plaintiff was renamed the claimant. Despite its name, the claim form may but is not required to present the details of the claim itself. The statement of claim (which had already replaced the complaint in England and Wales under the Rules of the Supreme Court) was replaced by another document known as particulars of claim. The claim form (Form N1) has space for "brief details of claim" on the first page, and then on the third page, the claimant can either provide particulars of claim or indicate by tick box that they are "to follow" (that is, as a separate document).[13]
Unlike the traditional writ of summons, the notice to the defendant about when to respond is no longer provided on the claim form itself. The CPR is oddly silent about this, but the claimant is generally expected to concurrently serve Form N1C, Notes to defendant on replying to the claim form, which does warn that the defendant must respond within 14 days of service of particulars of claim.
In criminal matters, either a requisition, summons or warrant is issued to initiate criminal proceedings.
Republic of Korea
In the
United States
In most
See also
References
- ^ Application for a witness summons under criminal law of England and Wales
- ^ The summons is generally executed on IRS Form 2039, Summons.
- ^ .
- ^ .
- ^ 26 U.S.C. § 7604. For background, see Schulz v. Internal Revenue Service, 395 F.3d 463, 2005-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) ¶ 50,165 (2d Cir. 2005) (per curiam).
- ^ 26 U.S.C. § 7210.
- ISBN 978-1-921824-99-9.
- ^ "What is Auxilium Curiae? Definition of Auxilium Curiae (Black's Law Dictionary)". thelawdictionary.org. 4 November 2011. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
- ^ ISBN 9780198812609. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
- ^ Chitty, Joseph (1836). The Practice of the Law in All Its Departments, Volume 3. Philadelphia: P.H. Nicklin & T. Johnson, Law Booksellers. p. 157. Retrieved November 26, 2023. This treatise offers example text for a writ of summons on page 154.
- ISBN 0406556202.
- ISBN 0406002681.
- HM Courts & Tribunals Service. 22 September 2023.
- ^ Hayes, Sean (2023-06-01). "What Should I do if I Receive a Korean Summons for a Criminal Investigation in Korea?". The Korean Law Blog by IPG Legal. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
- ^ See, e.g., World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286 (1980).
External links
- Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
- UK Civil Procedure Rules 1998 online
- Drewry, Charles Stewart (1876). Forms of claims and defences in the courts of the Chancery division of the High court of justice : with notes containing an outline of the law relating to each of the subjects treated, and an appendix of forms of endorsement on the writ of summons. London: Butterworths.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- The dictionary definition of summons at Wiktionary
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the