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Subpoena for A. B. to appear in Chancery, returnable (either insert some day in term, if it be term time or else) immediately, at the solicitor's option, at the suit of C. D.

(Solicitor's name and date.)

Before the 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 94, the plaintiff's solicitor was obliged to leave a præcipe at the Subpoena Office, and the subpoena was made out and procured to be sealed by the clerk at the office; but by that statute, sec. 12, that office is incorporated with the Affidavit Office; and by sec. 31 it is enacted" that the patentee of the Subpoena Office shall provide a seal in such form as the Chancellor shall approve; and any person desirous of issuing a writ of subpoena may now prepare such subpoena, and present the same for sealing, and the same shall henceforth be an open writ, and either in the present or any other form which the Lord Chancellor may direct, and such writ shall, upon presentment for that purpose, be forthwith sealed with such seal, and have the same force as a writ of subpoena now has, and the fee of 5s. 6d. shall be paid for each subpœna." Formerly a subpoena could only be made returnable in term time, except in a country cause, but by the 1st Order of the Court, 3d April, 1828, every plaintiff, as well in a country cause as in a town cause, shall be at liberty, without affidavit, to obtain an order for a subpoena returnable immediately; but such subpoena, in a country cause, is to be without prejudice to the defendant's right to eight days' time to enter his appearance, after he has been served with the subpoena.

By the second of these Orders, a writ of subpoena to appear, or to appear and answer, shall be sued out for each defendant, except in the case of husband and wife defendants, and the costs of all such writs shall be costs in the cause. This last Order has however been altered by the Orders of the 21st December, 1833, by which the following Rules are laid down for the future practice as to the subpoena.

1st. That all writs of subpoena in this Court sh be prepared by the solicitor of the party requiring the same, and that the seal for sealing the same shall be marked or inscribed with the words-" Subpoena Office, Chancery;" and such writs shall be in the forms mentioned at the foot of these Orders, or as near as may be, with such alterations and variations as circumstances may require.

2d. That a præcipe in the usual form, and containing further the particulars hereinafter mentioned, (as to the names and residences of the solicitors issuing the same) shall in all cases be delivered and filed at the Subpoena Office. And that on a subpoena for costs being sealed, the certificate or report shall be produced to the officer sealing the writ, as his authority for sealing it.

3d. That the name or firm and place of business or residence of the solicitor or solicitors issuing a subpoena shall be indorsed thereon, and when such solicitors shall be agents only, then there shall be further indorsed thereon the name or firm and place of business or residence of the principal solicitor or solicitors.

4th. That the service of subpoenas shall be effected by delivering a copy of the writ and of the indorsement thereon, and at the same time producing the original writ; and that in all cases where a subpoena might heretofore have been served, by leaving the body thereof at the party's dwellinghouse, or otherwise than personally, it shall be sufficient to leave a copy of such subpoena in the same manner, producing the original writ to the person with whom such copy shall be left.

5th. That every subpoena, other than a subpœna duces tecum, shall contain three names, where necessary or required, and that a gross sum or fee of 12s. 6d. shall be the amount allowed in costs for every subpana duces tecum, including the præcipe, attendance, and sum paid for sealing, and 5s. 10d. each for all other subpoenas; in addition to which last-mentioned sum, the solicitor suing out the same

shall be allowed one fee of 6s. 8d. for the præcipes and attendance on sealing such subpoenas as heretofore, where the number of names included therein shall not exceed nine, and if they shall exceed nine in number, then an additional fee of 6s. 8d.; and if they exceed eighteen, a further fee of 6s. 8d., and so in proportion for every additional number of nine names included in such subpoenas.

6th. That no more than three persons shall be included in one subpæna duces tecum, and the party suing out the same shall be at liberty to sue out a subpoena for each person, if it shall be deemed necessary or desirable; and that the sum of 12s. 6d. shall be allowed in costs for every such subpoena, including the præcipes, attendance, and sum paid for sealing the same.

7th. That the time for serving any subpoena (except for costs) shall be limited to the last day of the term next following the term or vacation in which it was sued out; and that in the interval between the suing out and service of any subpoena, the party suing out the same shall be at liberty to correct any error in the names of parties or witnesses, and to have the writ resealed, upon payment to the clerk at the subpoena office of a fee of one shilling; and at the same time leaving a corrected præcipe of such subpoena marked "altered and resealed," and signed with the name and address of the solicitor or solicitors suing out the same.

The forms of these subpoenas may be had at most of the law-stationers, ready printed in blank.

By the 20th of the Orders of the 3d of April, 1828, a subpoena to answer an amended bill, may be served on the defendant's Clerk in Court.

See further as to the form and service of subpoena, and also as to the letter missive, 1 Grant.

The bill, when settled and signed by counsel, must

be transcribed on parchment in words at length, and not in figures; but the skin is restricted to no particular number of sheets; as much may be comprised in each skin as can be fairly legible. The transcript should be very carefully examined with the draft of the bill, and the signature of the counsel written at the foot of the bill: it is then to be delivered to the Clerk in Court, at his seat in the Six Clerks' Office in Chancery Lane, to be filed, which must be done before the subpoena becomes returnable.

In filing the bill, the following Order, made by the three judges of the Court of Chancery on the 5th day of May, 1837, should be strictly attended to. "That from and after the 20th day of May now instant, every original information or bill of complaint filed in the High Court of Chancery, shall (at the option of the party informant or complainant, by or on whose behalf the information or bill shall be filed,) be distinctly marked at or near the top or upper part thereof, with the words 'Lord Chancellor,' or with the words Master of the Rolis.' And that the Six Clerks and Clerk in Court to whom the filing of the information or bill belongs, shall, in the books and indexes in which the same shall be entered, add to the entry thereof such distinguishing words or mark as may make it appear from such entry,

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whether the information or bill is marked with the words Lord Chancellor,' or with the words 'Master of the Rolls.' And that from and after the said 20th day of May, the Six Clerks and Clerk in Court are not to file any original information or bill of complaint, which shall not be marked in the manner hereinbefore directed."

If the defendant has been regularly served with the subpoena, and neglects or refuses to appear, or, having appeared, refuses or omits to put in his answer within the regulated time, he is considered to have incurred a contempt of the Court, upon which (except in cases of a Peer or Lord of Parliament, or a Member of the House of Commons, when the first step to enforce obedience to the process of the Court

is a sequestration,) an attachment issues, which is a writ under the great seal, directed to the sheriff of the county or place wherein the defendant resides, commanding the sheriff to attach the person in question, so as he may bring him into Court at a certain day to answer the contempt.

In order to ground the writ of attachment, an affidavit of service of the subpoena should be made before a Master in Chancery, (or Master Extraordinary, as the case may be) and filed in the Affidavit Office, Symond's Inn, Chancery Lane, and an office copy thereof obtained and produced to the Clerk in Court in the cause, who will then make out the writ, and procure it to be sealed on receiving proper instructions for that purpose.

Formerly, attachments could only be made returnable on a general return-day in term time, excepting where the defendant resided in or within ten miles of London; but now, by the 11 Geo. 4 & 1 Will. 4, c. 36, the plaintiff is at liberty, without an order, to sue forth the attachment returnable immediately, in case the party in contempt resides in London, or within twenty miles thereof; but if the defendant lives more than twenty miles from London, the plaintiff is at liberty, without an order, to sue forth the attachment returnable in vacation, on such day as the plaintiff's solicitor may think proper, provided there be fifteen days between the teste and return of the writ.

If the sheriff, to whom the writ is directed, is not able to take the defendant under it, he returns non est inventus; upon which a writ, called an attachment with proclamations, issues against the party, also directed to the same officer, commanding him to cause a proclamation to be made, that the defendant do upon his allegiance appear in the Court of Chancery on a certain day therein named; and, nevertheless, to attach the defendant if he can be found. Upon the return of this last-mentioned writ, that proclamation has been made, and of non est inventus, a commission of rebellion issues against the

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