# The Magistrates' Courts Rules 1981, Rule 58: Civil debt: judgment summons

Extent: E+W

(1) A summons issued on a complaint made for the purposes of section 96 of the Act of 1980 (in these rules referred to as a “judgment summons”) shall be served on the judgment debtor personally:
Provided that if a justice of the peace is satisfied by evidence on oath that prompt personal service of the summons is impracticable, he may allow the summons to be served in such a way as he may think just.
(2) Unless the judgment debtor appears and consents to an immediate hearing, the court shall not hear the complaint unless the summons was served at least 3 clear days before the hearing.
(3) Service of a judgment summons outside the local justice area in which the justice issuing the summons acted may, without prejudice to any other provision of these rules enabling service of a summons to be proved, be proved by affidavit.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1981/552/rule/58 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/magistrates-courts-rules-1981/rule-58
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.