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Section 39: Service of summonses and citation throughout United Kingdom.

Criminal Law Act 1977 · 1977 c. 45View on legislation.gov.uk

Part III: Criminal Procedure, Penalties, etc.

The following documents, namely—

a summons requiring a person charged with an offence to appear before a court in England or Wales,
a written charge (within the meaning of section 29 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003) charging a person with an offence,
a requisition (within the meaning of that section) requiring a person charged with an offence to appear before a court in England or Wales,
a single justice procedure notice (within the meaning of that section) requiring a person charged with an offence to serve a written notification stating—
whether or not the person desires to plead guilty, and
if the person desires to plead guilty, whether or not the person desires to be tried in accordance with section 16A of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980, and
any other document which, by virtue of any enactment, may or must be served on a person with, or at the same time as, a document mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) , (c) or (ca) above,

may, in such manner as may be prescribed by rules of court, be served on him in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

The documents falling within subsection (1)(a) include a summons directed to a person that is issued after the person's trial has begun.

A summons requiring a person charged with an offence to appear before a court in Northern Ireland may, in such manner as may be prescribed by rules of court, be served on him in England, Wales or Scotland.

Citation of a person charged with a crime or offence to appear before a court in Scotland may be effected in any other part of the United Kingdom in like manner as it may be done in Scotland, and for this purpose the persons authorised to effect such citation shall include

, in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, constables and prison officers serving in those parts of the United Kingdom
persons authorised by a chief officer of police in England or Wales to serve summonses there.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.