Rule 7.4 Summons, warrant and requisitionI1

England and Wales

(1)

A summons, warrant or requisition may be issued in respect of more than one offence.

(2)

A summons or requisition must—

(a)

contain notice of when and where the defendant is required to attend the court;

(b)

specify each offence in respect of which it is issued;

(c)

in the case of a summons, identify—

(i)

the court that issued it, unless that is otherwise recorded by the court officer,

(ii)

the court office for the court that issued it, and

(iii)

the prosecutor, unless the prosecutor is a public authority; and

(d)

in the case of a requisition, identify the person under whose authority it is issued.

(3)

A summons may be contained in the same document as an application for the issue of that summons.

(4)

A requisition may be contained in the same document as a written charge.

(5)

Where the court issues a summons—

(a)

the prosecutor must—

(i)

serve it on the defendant, and

(ii)

notify the court officer; or

(b)

the court officer must—

(i)

serve it on the defendant, and

(ii)

notify the prosecutor.

(6)

Where an authorised prosecutor issues a requisition that prosecutor must—

(a)

serve on the defendant—

(i)

the requisition, and

(ii)

the written charge; and

(b)

serve a copy of each on the court officer.

(7)

Unless it would be inconsistent with other legislation, a replacement summons or requisition may be issued without a fresh application or written charge where the one replaced—

(a)

was served under rule 4.4 (Service by leaving or posting a document); but

(b)

is shown not to have been received by the addressee.

(8)

Where a summons or requisition is served on a defendant under 18—

(a)

the prosecutor or court officer who serves it must serve a copy on a parent or guardian of the defendant as well; and

(b)

if the court requires the parent or guardian to attend, the copy may impose that requirement, or a separate summons or requisition may be issued for that purpose.

[Note. Part 13 contains other rules about warrants.

Section 47 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980^f1 and section 30(5) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 make special provision about time limits under other legislation for the issue and service of a summons or requisition, where service by post is not successful.

Under section 34A of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933^f2, unless the court is satisfied that it would be unreasonable to require such attendance having regard to the circumstances of the case (i) the court may require the parent or guardian of a defendant under 18 to attend court with the defendant, and (ii) the court must do so if the defendant is under 16.]

Annotations

Commencement

I1: Rule 7.4 in force at 6.10.2025, see Preamble

Footnotes

f1: 1980 c. 43; section 47 was amended by section 109(1) of, and paragraph 207 of Schedule 8 to, the Courts Act 2003 (c. 39).
f2: 1933 c. 12; section 34A was inserted by section 56 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (c. 53) and amended by section 107 of, and paragraph 1 of Schedule 5 to, the Local Government Act 2000 (c. 22) and regulations 3 and 5 of S.I. 2016/413.