SERVICE OF PAPERS AND PROCESS (OF. servisc, service, Fr. service, from Lat, serri limn], service, servitude, from serrirr, to serve). It is a fundamental principle of law that no final jndicial action shall be taken against a person unless he is notified of the proposed steps to he taken against him and given an opportunity to present his side of the matter. This doctrine ap plies to both civil and criminal proceedings. lu some jurisdictions the summons or other primary process is served personally on the defendant, and the subsequent pleadings and other papers in the action are filed with the clerk of the court. This is true generally under the common-law system. 3lodern codes, however. generally require that each pleading, notice, or other paper relating to the action shall he•served upon the attorney for the opposite party or the latter himself, even though they must also be filed.
Criminal process must he served by an au thorized person, usually a representative of the sheriff or prosecuting attorney, or an officer of the court. However, in most States, civil process may be served by any person not having an inter est in the action, but -in a few jurisdictions a private individual must be specially authorized in order to make a valid service.
The tune of service of papers is governed by the practice acts and rules of court in each State. Papers or process eannot be served on a day which is strictly a dies non (q.v.). However, un less the service of papers on holidays is prohib ited by statute, it will be deemed valid. In New York and a few other States service of papers on Saturday upon persons who observe that day as a holy day is prohibited. in the computation of time within which papers must be served Sun day is included, unless it falls on the last clay of the time allowed, in which ease the next suc ceeding legal (lay is added to the time.
Service must he made within the territorial jurisdiction of the court. Where an action is to be commenced against a non-resilient, o• where a resident of the State leaves it to evade service of process. or secretes himself with like purpose, most jurisdictions provide that service may be made by publication. This is done by order of the court : the summons o• other process is pub• fished in designated newspapers in the county in which the aetion is commenced. and also mailed
to the defendant's last known address. o• tacked on his door if he reside within the (-minty. The plaintiff is usually allowed the alternative of making 'substituted service.' that is. serving the defendant personally without the State. Service by publication, or without .the State, will not give a court such jurisdiction as is necessary to sup port a personal judgment in the sense of obliging courts in other States to give 'faith and credit' to it. However, as a State has jurisdiction over all property within its limits, irrespective of whether it is owned by its own citizens o• those of other States, it is held that a judgment oh tabled after such service will he good as against any property of the defendant within the State, The requisites of proper service are also got' erned by the local acts in each State. The most common requirements arc that the papers or proc ess be handed to the person intended to be served, and often that their nature or contents be stated to him at the time. If the perk)n thus served throws down the paper, the service is ne•e•the less complete, and, if he refuses to receive it, it should be Mid on his shoulder or laid down in his presence and its nature explained to him, in which eases the service is deemed valid. Some practice acts require that certain judicial papers or orders be read to the person served, or the judge's signature exhibited to him. Where there are several defendants each one must be served individually, but where the action is against a copartnership service on one member is sufficient. Service is made on a co•porationn by serving one of its officers or a director, o•, if it is a foreign o•po•ation, a representative within the State.
Some codes provide that service of the plead ings and other papers after the first process may be made by mail on the attorneys for the re spective parties. Ignorance of the effect of serv ice will not avoid the consequence of non-com pliance with the contents Of the papers or the rules of court. See PLEADING; PROCEDURE.