Legal Definitions - writ of summons

A writ of summons is a legal document that initiates a lawsuit by notifying the defendant that they are being sued and must appear in court to respond to the allegations. In English law, it is the primary way to commence an action.

Examples of different types of summons include:

• Alias summons: A second summons issued after the original summons has failed for some reason.
• John Doe summons: A summons to a person whose name is unknown at the time of service.
• Judgment summons: A process used by a judgment creditor to start an action against a judgment debtor to enforce the judgment.
• Short summons: A summons having a response time less than that of an ordinary summons, usually served on a fraudulent or nonresident debtor.
• Third-party record-custodian summons: A summons from the Internal Revenue Service to a third party to provide information on an unnamed, unknown taxpayer with potential tax liability.

These examples illustrate the different circumstances in which a writ of summons may be used in legal proceedings.