Summons - sustany/dvg GitHub Wiki

A summons is a form prepared by the plaintiff and issued by a court that informs the defendant that they are being sued or are required to appear in court. It may be served by a sheriff or other authorized person, such as the process server.�

In the context of civil cases, this case from Nebraska, explains that �a summons is an instrument used to provide notice to a party of civil proceedings and of the opportunity to appear and be heard.� A summons informs the defendant that they have a certain number of days to respond to the lawsuit or appear in the court.

In the context of criminal cases, a summons can be served on a defendant facing minor criminal charges and used as an alternative to an arrest warrant. This case from�Missouri, explains that �a �summons� is more or less a notice or an invitation to a defendant to come to court at a certain time and answer to a certain charge so that he may not be subjected to inconvenience and embarrassment of an arrest.�