▪ I. summons, n.
(ˈsʌmənz)
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, Þurȝ 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. a 1483 Ibid. 317 Ye shall not..disobaey þ⊇ somnes of þ⊇ 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. |
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 a 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 judgement 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 ouer⁓tite, 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 y{supt} 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 judgement in his favour, 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 ad 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 Shakes. 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. 1814 ― Wav. xxii, 'Tis the pibroch's shrill summons. 1888 A. 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. ? c 1860 Househ. Words (Flügel) A horn blowing..was the summons home. |
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 & Iph. 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. |
▪ II. summons, v.
(ˈsʌmənz)
[f. prec. Cf. obs. F. semoncer, -ser.]
1. trans. = summon v. 1, 3, 4, 5, 5 b. Now rare.
| 1658 Franck North. Mem. (1821) 34, I know not except he's come to summons us home. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v., To summons a Place, is to send a Drum, or Trumpet, to command the Governor to surrender. 1772 Fletcher Appeal Wks. 1795 I. 62 The bait of pleasure appears, corrupt nature summonses all her powers. 1802 M. Moore Lascelles II. 75 She was obliged to summons all her fortitude. 1830 W. Taylor Hist. Surv. Germ. Poetry II. 309 His attendants..came to summons him for the journey. |
2. To cite before a court or a judge or magistrate; to take out a summons against.
| 1780 M. Madan Thelyphthora I. ii. 52 A woman had but to summons her seducer before the judges. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxxviii, Say another word and I'll summons you. 1904 M. Corelli God's Good Man xxv, You can summons me..if you feel so inclined. |
Hence ˈsummonsable a., rendering one liable to a summons, actionable; ˈsummonser, one who summonses; ˈsummonsing vbl. n.
| 1877 R. W. Thom Jock o' Knowe 31 (E.D.D.) The sommonser's ca' Wad sound through the grand rooms o' Corby Ha'. 1891 Sat. Rev. 25 July 100/1 The fervent exhortations in the streets to apply summonsable language to him. 1893 Stevenson Catriona ix, The purpose..being that..the summonsing be something other than a form. |