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
NSW Police Force when charging someone after an arrest is made, a bail court attendance notice (with bail conditions) or regular court attendance notice is issued. Other methods the police use include via a paper form called a field court attendance notice (field CAN) which is issued to the accused person on the spot after an offence has been detected. Or by way of a future court attendance notice (future CAN), which replaced the old court issued summons and is served in person by police or sometimes by mail. In all of these cases, the CAN is filed at the court after it has been served.
England and Wales In
England and Wales, the various royal writs traditionally used to commence the
forms of action were abolished by the
Uniformity of Process Act 1832 (
2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 39). They were consolidated into a
writ of summons, which like its predecessors, was traditionally issued in the name of
the monarch. 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. 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. 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). If they are "to follow" the particulars of claim must be served within 14 days of the claim form being served. 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
Republic of Korea, a criminal summons may come from the
Korean Prosecution Services or a Court of Law and is a manner to initiate criminal proceedings or call a witness in for questioning. A summons may be served on an individual within Korea or that is abroad.
United States In most U.S. jurisdictions, the service of a valid summons is in most cases required for the court to have jurisdiction over the party who is being summoned. The process by which a summons is served is called
service of process. The form and content of service in the federal courts is governed by Rule 4 of the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 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, but some states use filing as the means to commence an action and in those states, the attorney must first file the summons in duplicate before it becomes effective. One or more copies are stamped by the court clerk with the court seal and returned to the attorney, who then uses it to actually serve the defendants. Other jurisdictions may only require that the summons be filed after it is served on the defendants.
New York State is distinguished by its permissive
filing system, in which the summons or complaint need not be filed at all. ==See also==