Summons

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Summons

A summons (also in Britain known as a claim form) 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 addressed to a defendant

Defendant

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Judicial summons

A judicial summons is addressed to a defendant

Defendant

A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally indictment or accused of violating a crime statute....
in a legal proceeding. Typically, the summons will announce to the person to whom it is directed that a legal proceeding has been started against that person, and that a file has been started in the court records. The summons announces a date by which the defendant(s) 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

Writ

In law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction. In modern usage, this public body is generally a court....
of the common law

Common law

Common law refers to law and the corresponding Legal systems of the world developed through legal opinion of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through statute law or Executive ....
. In ancient Persian law, if one failed to answer the summons of the King the punishment was death.

In England and Wales

England and Wales

England and Wales is a legal unit within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom....
, the term writ of summons for the originating document in civil proceedings has been replaced with the term Claim Form by the (CPR). This is part of the reforms to simplify legal terminology.

In most U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
jurisdictions, the service of a summons is in most cases required for the court to have personal jurisdiction over the party who is being "haled" into court involuntarily. The process by which a summons is served is called service of process

Service of process

Service of process is the procedure employed to give legal notice to a person of a court or administrative agency body's exercise of its jurisdiction over that person so as to enable that person to respond to the proceeding before the court, body or other tribunal....
. The form and content of service in the federal system is governed by Rule 4 the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

Civil procedure

Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudication Civil law lawsuits . These rules govern how a lawsuit or Legal case may be commenced, what kind of service of process is required, the types of pleadings or statements of case, motion s or applications, and court orders allowed in c...
, and the rules of many state courts are similar. The federal summons is usually issued by the clerk of the court. In many states the summons may be issued by an attorney, though some states use filing as the means to commence an action and the summons must be filed in those cases in order to be effective. Other jurisdictions may only require that the summons be filed after it is served on the defendants.

Citation

The Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region , Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads in North America....
Uniform Traffic Ticket is a summons form prescribed by the Supreme Court of Ohio

Supreme Court of Ohio

The Supreme Court of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution....
.]]

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

Police

Police are agents or agencies, usually of the executive , empowered to enforce the law and to ensure public and social order through the legitimized use of force....
official, compelling the appearance of a defendant before the local magistrate

Magistrate

A magistrate is a judicial officer; in ancient Rome, the word magistratus denoted one of the highest government officers with judicial and executive powers....
within a certain period of time to answer for a minor traffic infraction

Traffic ticket

A traffic ticket is a summons and citation issued by police officers to motorists and other road users who fail to obey Traffic. Traffic tickets generally come in two forms, citing a moving violation, such as exceeding the speed limit, or a non-moving violation, such as a parking ticket....
or misdemeanor

Misdemeanor

A misdemeanor, or misdemeanour, in many common law legal systems, is a "lesser" crime act. Misdemeanors are generally punishment much less severely than felony, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions ....
or other summary offence

Summary offence

A summary offence, also known as a petty crime, is a crime act in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded with summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment....
. Failure to appear within the allotted period of time is a separate crime of failure to appear

Failure to appear

Failure to appear is the legal term for the failure of a defendant or respondent to appear within the stated time before a tribunal as directed in a summons....
.

Administrative summons

One example of an administrative summons is found in the tax law of the United States. The Internal Revenue Code

Internal Revenue Code

The Internal Revenue Code is the main body of domestic statutory law tax law of the United States organized topically, including laws covering the income tax , payroll taxes, Gift tax, Inheritance tax and statutory excise taxes....
authorizes the U.S. Internal Revenue Service

Internal Revenue Service

The Internal Revenue Service is the Federal government of the United States agency that collects taxes and enforces the tax law. It is an agency within the U.S....
(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. The person summoned may be required to produce books, papers, records, or other data, and to give testimony under oath before an IRS employee.

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."

The summons may be enforced by a court order, 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, except that the person summoned may, to the extent applicable, assert a privilege against self incrimination

Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which is part of the United States Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure....
or other evidentiary privileges, if applicable.

Summons

Judicial summons

Citation

Administrative summons

See also

External links