Legal Definitions - serve

To serve a legal document or notice means to formally deliver it to the required person or entity in a manner prescribed by law. This process ensures that the recipient is officially informed of a legal action, court order, or other important legal communication, thereby giving them proper notice and an opportunity to respond.

Here are some examples illustrating the term "serve":

• Imagine a situation where a landlord decides to end a tenant's lease due to unpaid rent. Before initiating a court eviction process, the landlord must first serve the tenant with an official eviction notice. This notice, often delivered by a process server or certified mail, formally informs the tenant of the landlord's intent to terminate the lease and provides a specific timeframe to either pay the outstanding rent or vacate the property.

  This example illustrates "serve" because the landlord is legally delivering a formal notice to the tenant, ensuring the tenant is officially informed of the impending legal action (eviction) as required by law.

• Consider a scenario where a person is suing a company for breach of contract. After filing the lawsuit with the court, the plaintiff (the person suing) must arrange for the lawsuit documents, known as a summons and complaint, to be served on the defendant company. This typically involves a professional process server physically delivering the documents to a designated agent or officer of the company, officially notifying them that they are being sued and must respond to the court.

  Here, "serve" refers to the formal and legally mandated delivery of the lawsuit documents to the defendant company, ensuring they receive proper notice of the legal proceedings against them.

• In a criminal trial, if the prosecution needs a specific individual to testify about something they witnessed, they will obtain a subpoena from the court. This subpoena must then be served on the witness. A law enforcement officer or process server will deliver the subpoena directly to the individual, compelling them to appear in court on a specific date and time to give testimony.

  This demonstrates "serve" as the official delivery of a court order (the subpoena) to a person, legally requiring them to perform a specific action, in this case, appearing as a witness.