SERVING A SUMMONS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3166, 22 August 1881, Page 4

SERVING A SUMMONS.

We take the following from the Evening Post: — S A"hat constitutes the service .of '•> summons ? This was a question which pre sented itself for solution at the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning. A man named Fitzgerald, for whom Mr Fitzherbert appeared, sued another named Purcoll t<recover a small debt. The counsel for the plaintiff—Mr Gordon Allan—submitted thai the proceedings were bad, inasmuch as then' had been no legal service of the summons Ifc appears the plaintiff threw the process n< the defendant's feet while the latter was a* work, and, according, to his testimony, ir. formed Purcell that it was a summens*. Ot, the other hand, Purcell, while admitting tha' a " blue document " had been thrown at him by the plaintiff, said he was not told what its contents were, and as, from its appearance, he concluded "the paper would do him no good " he allowed it to remain where it fell. In support of this version of the occurrence the defendant called a witness named Williams. Mr Shaw, R.M., said their was no doubt the service was bad according to the present position of the law. He held that before manual service of a summons could be dispensed with there must be a tender of the document with an explanation of its contents and a refusal to receive it. He felt convinced the defendant knew what was in the paper, and that trBorne extent there had been a miscarriage of justice, but from a legal point of view fchisummons had not been served, and the proceedings were bad from the beginning.