witness summons

It is probably worth while serving witness summonses as a matter of course.

Only two of the seven civilian witnesses needed for the trial had been traced and witness summonses served.

Witness summonses (N 20) may issue to compel oral evidence or the production of documents.

County Court witness summonses can name only one witness and should be applied for not less than seven days before attendance is required.

Witness summonses can be served by post, preferably by recorded delivery.

If the original document is in the possession of a third party he may be compelled to produce it by issue of a witness summons.

A witness summons should be served personally and the witness offered a reasonable sum of money to cover his travel expenses.

Expert witnesses may be subpoenaed (issued with a witness summons), although this is normally a formality to avoid court date clashes.

A French worker, Vernet, supposedly stabbed in the stomach and the side by an Italian, had not answered a witness summons.

While you will not want to overstate the coercive nature of a witness summons or subpoena you must be clear about the consequences of non-attendance.

He probably liked the fact that these rules allow the G.O.P. to look generous while leaving room to ram through witness summonses if war breaks out.

(c) Attendance of witnesses A witness can be compelled to attend the hearing and produce specified documents by issue of a witness summons.

Its powers to use a witness summons are restricted in that, for example, it cannot compel the production of documents merely required for the purposes of cross-examination.

Witness summonses may not issue less than seven days before the hearing and be served in less than four days before the hearing without leave of the court.

A local authority applicant may call a parent as witness and compel his or her attendance at court by issue of a witness summons, where necessary (see Chapter 5, 14(c)).

However, for civil proceedings in England and Wales, it is now described as a witness summons, as part of reforms to replace Latin terms with English terms which are easier to understand.

Fishing expeditions for transcripts which may or may not be relevant are also not allowed, so Millett J directed that the liquidators could press for Mr Clowes' witness summons to be discharged.

The court will not however compel his attendance by issue of a witness summons where this would be oppressive or damaging to the child's welfare to an extent which would outweigh the legitimate interest of any other party (Butler-Sloss LJ in R v Birmingham CC, ex pP, cited above).