Forms: 3–5 somouns, -ounce, 3–6 somons, 4–5 somonce, 5–6 sommaunce, (3 somunce, -ounz, 4 -unse, -ones, -aunce, 5 sommonz, -ones, somance, somnes, somounnys, 6 summaunce, 7 sommance, 8 sommons), 6– summons. [a. AF., OF. sumunse, somo(u)nse (mod.F. semonce) = Pr. somonsa, -ossa:—pop.L. *summonsa (for summonita), pa. pple. fem., (used subst.) of summonēre to SUMMON.]
1. An authoritative call to attend at a specified place for a specified purpose.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 1. Ich wene þat ich wot Ȝwat þis somunce a-mounti schal.
a. 1325. MS. Rawl. B. 520, lf. 54. Somune þoru gode somunse .xii. fre men ant trewe of vesinage of .N.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1498. Soberly in his sacrafyce summe wer anoynted, Þurz þe somones of him selfe þat syttes so hyȝe.
a. 1400. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 349. Weche foure and twenty [heuedes of þe Cite] sholde, to þe comenable somaunse of þe forseyde meyre, come. Ibid. (a. 1483), 317. Ye shall not … disobaey þe somnes of þe Master and Wardens.
a. 1500. Gough Chron., in Six Town Chron. (1911), 155. The comons of london wente to yelde hall by cause of a sommaunce made by a commission.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. (1811), 494. Sir Godfrey de Harecourt, which … wold nat apere after certayn sommaunces, was nowe openly banysshed.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 757. Thir summons call’d From every Band and squared Regiment By place or choice the worthiest.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xxvii. (1787), III. 31. He obeyed the summons with the respect of a faithful subject.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxi. The great bell was tolled, as summons to a military council.
1878. J. Gairdner, Rich. III., ii. 74. Summonses were issued to fifty gentlemen to receive knighthood, in anticipation of the king’s coronation.
b. The royal act of calling to the national council or parliament the bishops, earls and barons by special writ, and the knights and freeholders by a general writ addressed to the sheriffs; hence spec. the call to a barony (cf. SUMMON v. 1 b).
‘The personal right of summons is the essence of the peerage’ (Gardiner, in Encycl. Brit., 1878, VIII. 297/1).
13[?]. Coer de L., 1255. The kyng comaundyd … At London to make a parlement…. To Londoun, to hys somouns, Come erl, bysschop, and barouns, Abbotes, pryests, knyghtes, squyers, Burgeyses, and manye bachelers, Serjaunts, and every freeholdande.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 16. Withouten any somons, & withouten askyng of Erles or barons.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., II. § 66. The Parliament met according to summons upon the 13th of April in the year 1640.
1660. R. Coke, Power & Subj., 109. In every Writ of Summons to the Bishops, there is a clause requiring them to summon these persons to appear personally at the Parliament.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. ii. 189. After the expiration of which [three years], reckoning from the return of the first summons, the parliament was to have no longer continuance.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), III. 177. It has been a very ancient practice to call up the eldest sons of earls to the House of Lords by writ of summons, by the name or title of a barony vested in their fathers.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, IV. vii. That was a barony by writ of summons which had been claimed a century before.
1874. Green, Short Hist., viii. § 6. 520. The summons of a Parliament at once woke the kingdom to a fresh life.
1878. Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. xx. § 751. 437. The point of time from which the regularity of the baronial summons is held to involve the creation of an hereditary dignity.
2. A call or citation by authority to appear before court or judicial officer; also (in full writ of summons), the writ by which the citation is made.
a. A citation or writ apprising a defendant that an action has been begun against him and citing him to appear to the action, in default of which the court may proceed to give judgment and award execution against him.
Summons and severance: see SEVERANCE 2 c.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 29519. Þat cursing tald vn-laghful es Þat ordir wantes and right-settnes O lagh, bot giuen it es ouertite, Wit-vten somons and right respite.
c. 1325. Poem temp. Edw. II. (Percy), lxvi. The pore men shul to London To somons and to syse.
1429. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 346/1. Havyng processe … by somounces, attachmentz and distresse.
1497–8. in Archaeol. Jrnl. (1886), XLIII. 167. A fyne lost by Robt Wells for somannce.
1502. Arnolde, Chron., 10 b/2. And yt none summaunce attachment nor execuceon by don,… but by mynystirs of the same cite.
1618. J. Wilkinson, Treat. Off. Coroners, etc., II. 6. The like proces or precepts as are made out of a hundred Court, mutatis mutandis, are to be made out of this Court, viz. summons attachment, and distresse infinite.
1764. Burn, Poor Laws, 288. For the executing a summons, where the person to be summoned … is … out of the way; that a copy thereof left at his dwelling house, should be enacted to be effectual, as if personally served upon himself.
1810. Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange, Life (1870), I. iv. 94. We have received a summons from the under-sheriff, which was given over the pale to William this morning.
1869. Act 32 & 33 Vict., c. 71 § 7. A debtor’s summons may be granted by the Court on a creditor proving … that a debt sufficient to support a petition in bankruptcy is due to him from the person against whom the summons is sought.
1875. Act 38 & 39 Vict., c. 77. Ord. II. § 1. Every action in the High Court shall be commenced by a writ of summons.
1892. [see TAKE v. 85 g].
attrib. and Comb. 1881. J. Hatton, New Ceylon, vii. 184. Summons cases for debt.
1886. in Maurice, Lett. fr. Donegal, 72. The summons-server of the Bunbeg district.
b. Sc. Law. A citation or writ issuing from the Court of Session under the royal signet, or, if in a sheriff court, in the name of the sheriff.
It consists of three parts: the libel, which sets forth the grounds and circumstances on which the action is founded, the conclusion or decerniture, which declares the terms on which the pursuer desires judgment in his favor, and the citation or will, which is a warrant for summoning the defender to court.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., Quon. Attach., 75 b. Summons is ane warning (and declaration) of ane certaine day and place, betwix parties, to ane lawfull day.
1693. Stair, Instit., IV. iii. § 27. Ordinar Actions proceed not by Brieves, but by larger Summons, which therefore are called Libells.
1718. Acts of Sederunt, 26 Feb. The first calling, which is to be marked by the under-clerk on the summons.
1765–8. Erskine, Inst. Law Scot., IV. i. § 8. All executions of summonses must express the day of appearance, which however is commonly left blank, till the summons be called in court.
1814. Act 54 Geo. III., c. 137 § 2. Letters or Precepts of Arrestment upon any depending Action may be granted summarily, upon Production of the libelled Summons.
1885. Encycl. Brit., XIX. 220/1. In Scotland an action in the Court of Session begins by a summons on the part of the pursuer to which is annexed a condescendence, containing the allegations in fact on which the action is founded.
c. In full, summons and warrantizandum, to warrant (law L. summoneas ad warrantizandum): the process by which the vouchee in a common recovery was called.
[1580–1. Act 23 Eliz., c. 3 § 1. The Returnes of the said Originals and Writtes of Summon. ad Warrantizandum.]
1607. Cowell, Interpr., Summons ad Warrantizandum.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), V. 390. Earl Cowper, the vouchee, had acknowledged the warrants of attorney to appear to the summons.
1835. Tomlins, Law Dict., Summons to Warrant.
d. ‘In judges’ or masters’ chambers, the means by which one party brings the other before a judge (or a master) to settle matters of detail in the procedure of a suit’ (Wharton, Law-Lex.).
1820. Act 1 Geo. IV., c. 55 § 5. It shall … be lawful for the Justices of the Courts of King’s Bench and Common Pleas … during their … Circuits … to grant such and the like Summonses,… in all Actions and Prosecutions which are or shall be depending [etc.].
1882. C. Sweet, Dict. Eng. Law, s.v., Summonses are … only used on applications which are either of subsidiary importance, or can be conveniently disposed of in chambers. Ibid. In the Queen’s Bench Division some summonses must be heard in the first instance by a master, and others by a judge.
3. gen. A peremptory or urgent call or command; a summoning sound, knock, or the like.
1567. Fenton, Trag. Disc., i. 7 b. He suffred himselfe at the first to be subiect to the somonce of loue.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. XLIX. iii. Sure at his [sc. death’s] summons wise and fooles appeare.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., I. iii. 4. The Duke of Norfolke … Stayes but the summons of the Appealants Trumpet.
1634. Milton, Comus, 888. Bridle in thy headlong wave, Till thou our summons answered have.
1676. Glanvill, Season. Refl., 167. The Dead shall be raised by a General Summons.
1727. Swift, Further Acc. E. Curll, Wks. 1751, III. I. 156. He had a lucid interval, that enabled him to send a general summons to all his authors.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 587. As if conven’d By magic summons of th’ Orphean lyre.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, IV. vii. The hour was late, When a loud summons shook the gate. Ibid. (1814), Wav., xxii. ’Tis the pibroch’s shrill summons.
1888. Anna K. Green, Behind Closed Doors, I. ii. I was requested to call upon—Mrs. A., let us say, on business…. Such summonses come frequently.
1889. Tennyson, Forlorn, iv. You that lie with wasted lungs Waiting for your summons.
b. with qualifying inf. or adv.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 336. The total herd receiving … from one That leads the dance a summons to be gay.
1844. Thirlwall, Greece, lxii. VIII. 181. Antigonus … was waiting on his southern frontier for the summons to march.
1855. Househ. Words, XII. 6 Oct., 235/1 (Flügel). So the two sate crouched up and silent, till they heard the horn blowing at the field-gate, which was the summons home to any wanderers belonging to the farm, and at this hour of the evening, signified that supper was ready.
4. Mil. The act of summoning a place to surrender. Also, now only, with inf. (cf. 3 b).
1617. Moryson, Itin., II. 167. Vpon our summons of the Towne, after martiall manner.
a. 1671. Ld. Fairfax, Mem. (1699), 15. We … sent a trumpet with a summons to deliver up the town to me.
1682. Bunyan, Holy War (1905), 236. The Captains … did send … a summons to Mansoul to yield up her self to the King.
1700. Dryden, Cymon & Iphig., 276. Or strike your Sails at Summons, or prepare to prove the last Extremities of War.
1744. M. Bishop, Life & Adv., 8. We Pioneers were ordered to go to St. Catherine’s Castle, but we were preceded by a Summons, upon which it surrendered.
1802. James, Milit. Dict.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, II. 350. The Kiladar refused to comply with the summons to surrender.
