Legally, a summons (also known in England and Wales as a claim form, New South Wales as Court Attendance Notice (CAN)) is a legal document issued by a court (a judicial summons) or by an administrative agency of government (an administrative summons) for various purposes.

Judicial summons[link]

A judicial summons is addressed to a defendant in a legal proceeding. Typically, the summons will announce to the person to whom it is directed that a legal proceeding has been started against that person, and that a case has been initiated in the issuing court. In some jurisdictions it may be drafted in dense legal jargon, while several U.S. states expressly require summonses to be drafted in plain English and that they must start with this phrase: "Notice! You have been sued".

The summons announces a date by which the defendant(s) must either appear in court, or respond in writing to the court or the opposing party or parties. The summons is the descendant of the writ of the common law. It replaces the former procedure at common law by which the plaintiff actually had to ask the sheriff to arrest the defendant in order for the court to obtain personal jurisdiction in both criminal and civil actions.

In England and Wales, the term writ of summons for the originating document in civil proceedings has been replaced with the term claim form by the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR). This is part of the reforms to simplify legal terminology. However, despite its name, the claim form does not present the details of the claim itself (in other words, it does not replace the complaint). The complaint is now known as the particulars of claim.

In most U.S. jurisdictions, the service of a summons is in most cases required for the court to have personal jurisdiction over the party who is being "hauled" into court involuntarily.^[1] The process by which a summons is served is called service of process. The form and content of service in the federal courts is governed by Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and the rules of many state courts are similar. The federal summons is usually issued by the clerk of the court. In many states the summons may be issued by an attorney, but some states use filing as the means to commence an action and in those states the attorney must first file the summons in duplicate before it becomes effective; one or more copies are stamped by the court clerk with the court seal and returned to the attorney, who then uses it to actually serve the defendants. Other jurisdictions may only require that the summons be filed after it is served on the defendants. New York is notorious for its permissive filing system, in which the summons or complaint need not be filed at all.

In the Australian state of NSW the service of a Court Attendance Notice can be issued in a number of ways, the most common of which is by the NSW Police Force when charging someone after an arrest is made, a Bail Court Attendance Notice(with bail conditions) or regular Court Attendance Notice is issued. Other methods the Police use include via a paper form called a Field Court Attendance Notice (Field CAN) which is issued to the accused person on the spot after an offence has been detected. Or by way of a Future Court Attendance Notice (Future CAN), which replaced the old court issued summons and is served in person by Police or sometimes by mail. In all of these cases the CAN is filed at the court after it has been served.

Citation[link]

A citation, traffic violation ticket or notice to appear is a type of summons prepared and served at the scene of the occurrence by a law enforcement official, compelling the appearance of a defendant before the local magistrate within a certain period of time to answer for a minor traffic infraction or misdemeanor or other summary offence. Failure to appear within the allotted period of time is a separate crime of failure to appear.

In Australia for minor traffic or some summary offences these are known as an Infringement Notice or a Fine and can be dealt with by paying a particular monetary amount depending on the offence. The accused person has the right to have the matter heard in a Court, if found not guilty the accused person pays nothing other than his legal costs (if any) but if found guilty the accused person faces the prospect of a conviction for the offence and/or a substantial increase in the fine up to the maximum. For example, proceeding through a red light could go from AU$353 up to AU$2,200 if convicted in NSW. Otherwise a Field Court Attendance Notice is issued for more serious offences.

Civil Summons[link]

A Civil Summons is most often accompanied by a complaint. Depending on the type of summons, there is often an option to endorse your summons so you can identify the entity you are trying to serve. In the U.S. court system in California, for civil unlimited cases in the superior court, a summons will often have 1-4 options to endorse. 1 is as an individual. 2. is as the person sued under the fictitious name of (specify):. 3. is on behalf of (usually for a company). 4. is by personal delivery on (date):

Administrative summons[link]

One example of an administrative summons is found in the tax law of the United States. The Internal Revenue Code authorizes the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to issue a summons for a taxpayer—or any person having custody of books of account relating to a business of a taxpayer—to appear before the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate (generally, this means the IRS employee who issued the summons) at the time and place named in the summons.^[2] The person summoned may be required to produce books, papers, records, or other data, and to give testimony under oath before an IRS employee.^[3]

The IRS is also empowered to issue the section 7602 summons for the purpose of "inquiring into any offense connected with the administration or enforcement of the internal revenue laws."^[4]

The summons may be enforced by a court order,^[5] and the law provides a criminal penalty of up to one year in prison or a fine, or both, for failure to obey the summons,^[6] except that the person summoned may, to the extent applicable, assert a privilege against self incrimination or other evidentiary privileges, if applicable.

Notes[link]

See also[link]

• Subpoena

• subpoena ad testificandum
• subpoena duces tecum

External links[link]

• Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
• UK Civil Procedure Rules 1998 online

The Wiktionary entry for summons

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Summons". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Sunil Bharti Mittal
Sunil Bharti Mittal at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 2007
Born	(1957-10-23) 23 October 1957 (age 54) Ludhiana, Punjab, India
Residence	South Delhi, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	Punjab University[1]
Occupation	Chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises
Net worth	$8.3 billion (2011)[2]
Religion	Hinduism
Spouse	Nyna[1]
Children	3[1]
Website
www.airtel.com
Notes [3]

Sunil Bharti Mittal (born 23 October 1957) is an Indian telecom mogul, philanthropist and the founder, chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises. The US$8.3 billion turnover company runs India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service and world's fifth largest wireless company with over 190 million customers across 19 countries in Asia and Africa. He is the son of SatPal (former MP) and Lalita.^[1]

In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honor.^[4]

Early life[link]

Sunil Mittal was born in Ludhiana, Punjab, India. His father, Sat Pal Mittal, had been the Member of Parliament (M.P) from Ludhiana. He first joined the Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie,^[5] but later attended Scindia School at Gwalior and he graduated in 1976 from Punjab University, Chandigarh, with a Bachelor of Arts and Science for which he studied in Arya College for Boys, a local college in Ludhiana.^[6] His father died of cardiac arrest in 1992.^[1]

Entrepreneurial ventures[link]

A first generation entrepreneur, Mittal started his first business in April 1976^[7] at the age of 18, with a capital investment of 20,000 (US$399) borrowed from his father. His first business was to make crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers.^[8]

In 1980, he along with his brothers Rakesh, Rajan started an Import Enterprise named Bharti Overseas Trading Corporation.^[5] He sold his bicycle parts and yarn factories and moved to Mumbai.^[8]

In 1981, he purchased importing licences from exporting companies in Punjab.^[7] He then imported thousands of Suzuki Motors's portable electric-power generators from Japan. The importing of generators was suddenly banned by the then Indian Government and just two licences to manufacture generators in India were issued to two companies.^{[citation needed]}

In 1984, he started assembling push-button phones in India,^[7] which he earlier used to import from a Taiwan company, Kingtel, replacing the old fashioned, bulky rotary phones that were in use in the country then. Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) was incorporated and entered into a technical tie up with Siemens AG of Germany for manufacture of electronic push button phones. By the early 1990s, Mittal was making fax machines, cordless phones and other telecom gear. Mittal says, "In 1983, the government imposed a ban on the import of gensets. I was out of business overnight. Everything I was doing came to a screeching halt. I was in trouble. The question then was: what should I do next? Then, opportunity came calling. While in Taiwan, I noticed the popularity of the push-button phone -- something which India hadn't seen then. We were still using those rotary dials with no speed dials or redials. I sensed my chance and embraced the telecom business. I started marketing telephones, answering/fax machines under the brand name Beetel and the company picked up really fast.".^[1] He named his first push-button phones as 'Mitbro'.^[5]

In 1992, he successfully bid for one of the four mobile phone network licences auctioned in India.^[1] One of the conditions for the Delhi cellular license was that the bidder have some experience as a telecom operator. So, Mittal clinched a deal with the French telecom group Vivendi.^{[citation needed]}

He was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify the mobile telecom business as a major growth area. His plans were finally approved by the Government in 1994^[7] and he launched services in Delhi in 1995, when Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) was formed to offer cellular services under the brand name AirTel. Within a few years Bharti became the first telecom company to cross the 2-million mobile subscriber mark. Bharti also brought down the STD/ISD cellular rates in India under brand name 'Indiaone'.^[7] IndiaOne was India’s first private national as well as the international long-distance service provider, and, thus, became a major factor in Bharti's success by providing services cheaply.^{[citation needed]}

In November 2006, he struck a joint venture deal with Wal-Mart, the US retail giant, to start a number of retail stores across India.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2006, he attracted many key executives from Reliance ADAG, NIS Sparta and created Bharti Comtel.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2008, it emerged that Sunil Bharti Mittal was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with coverage in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the talks, while The Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up," as MTN has more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage.^[9] However, the talks fell apart as MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company.^[3]

In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it was in talks with MTN and the companies agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July 2009. Bharti Airtel said in a statement "Bharti Airtel Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group".^{[citation needed]}

Talks eventually ended without agreement, some sources stating that this was due to opposition from the South African government.^[10]

Personal life[link]

Mittal resides in Delhi. He is married and has three children.^{[citation needed]}

Awards and Recognition[link]

• Transforming India Leader, NDTV Business Leader Awards 2008.
• GSMA Chairman's Award 2008.
• Padma Bhushan in 2007, from the President of India.
• Asia Businessman of the Year, Fortune Magazine 2006.
• Telecom Person of the Year, Voice & Data, 2006.
• CEO of the year 2005, at the Frost and Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT awards 2006.
• Best Asian Telecom CEO, Telecom Asia Awards 2005.
• Best CEO, India, Institutional Investor, 2005.
• Business Leader Of The Year, Economic Times, 2005.
• Philanthropist of the Year Award 2010 at The Asian Awards^[11]
• INSEAD Business Leader Award 2011^[12]

Philanthropy[link]

Mittal has also been working towards educating India through the Bharti Foundation. The foundation has established over 200 schools on its 2009 list of the world's top 25 philanthropists.^[13]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sunil Mittal

• Profile at Bharti Enterprises
• Profile at Forbes
• Sunil Mittal collected news and commentary at The Times of India
• Sunil Mittal Profile and Photographs

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.^[1]

History[link]

The earliest recorded use^{[citation needed]} of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." ^{[2][dubious – discuss]} In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

It was also used as a term for a drug dealer in the 1950s and 1960s and can be seen in such media as Curtis Mayfield's "No Thing On Me", William Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch, and in the Velvet Underground song "I'm Waiting for the Man", in which Lou Reed sings about going to Uptown Manhattan, specifically Lexington Avenue and 125th Street, to buy heroin.

The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."

In present day, the phrase has been popularized in commercials and cinema, featuring particularly prominently as a recurring motif in the 2003 film School of Rock.^[3][4][5][6]

Use as praise[link]

The term has also been used as an approbation or form of praise. This may refer to the recipient's status as the leader or authority within a particular context, or it might be assumed to be a shortened form of a phrase like "He is the man (who is in charge)." One example of this usage dates to 1879 when Otto von Bismarck commented, referring to Benjamin Disraeli's pre-eminent position at the Congress of Berlin, "The old Jew, he is the man."^{[7][dubious – discuss]}

In more modern usage, it can be a superlative compliment ("you da man!") indicating that the subject is currently standing out amongst his peers even though they have no special designation or rank, such as a basketball player who is performing better than the other players on the court. It can also be used as a genuine compliment with an implied, slightly exaggerated or sarcastic tone, usually indicating that the person has indeed impressed the speaker but by doing something relatively trivial.

See also[link]

• Absentee landlord
• Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
• New World Order (conspiracy theory)
• Ruling class
• The Establishment
• Power elite
• Corrections officer
• YTMND

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Lighter, J.E. (Ed.). (1997). Random House Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House.