CITATION. - Citation, in the canonical process, is, unlike what normally happens in civil procedural systems (where it is often one party that cites the other), an order of the judge, inasmuch as it is through citation that the judge summons the parties to judgment (vocatio in ius) so that they may assert in the suit, regularly instituted, their claims, with reference to what is set out in the libellus, which, conversely, is the act properly introductory of the trial.
Note, moreover, that citation is not necessary when the parties appear personally in court to conduct the suit.
Among the various kinds of citation, there should be recalled, on the one hand, written, verbal or real ones (the latter having the characteristics of a manus iniectio) and, on the other, private or personal and edictal or public ones, which occur respectively according as the citation is effected by direct summons of the person (by means of the cursor and the postal service or of the members of the person's household) or by posting at the doors of the tribunal and insertion in the press (AAS for the tribunals of the Holy See and diocesan bulletins for the lower tribunals).
Citation is a jurisdictional act in the strictest sense of the word (CIC, can. 1715 § 1), given that it is an order of the judge, who provides for it by a decree of his own naturally bearing his signature, as well as the seal of the tribunal.
The nullity of the citation, for lack of the essential elements set out below, where it cannot be remedied by the personal appearance of the party (cf. ibid., cann. 1715, 1717, 1722), as well as the nullity, for irregularity, of its notification, produces the nullity of the entire proceeding of the sentence and represents a ground for querela nullitatis (cf. ibid., cann. 1723, 1894 § 1; v. QUERELA).
Materially the citation is drawn up on a special form, which is called the citation form and which must contain the essential elements of the vocatio in ius (name of the judge, order to appear, name, surname and domicile of the parties, place and time of appearance) and of the editio actionis (petitum and causa petendi), which are the two procedural functions of the citation.
This is formally brought to the knowledge of the parties by means of notification, which is attended to, through his public ministry, by the process server (v.). The manner of notification varies and ranges from delivery to the person concerned, to delivery to a member of his family or household, and to the use of the postal service and of the edict (cf. ibid., can. 1717 ff.).
The notification report, which is dated and signed by the process server (ibid., can. 1722 § 1), must indicate the manner and time in which the notification is carried out and is a public act which, as such, carries probative force until an action of forgery is brought (ibid., can. 1593).
Once notified, the citation brings about, from the procedural point of view, full litispendence (v. LITE PENDENTE) and in particular: it makes the substantive legal relationship litigious, it makes the case proper to the judge before whom the action is brought, it makes firm and consolidated the jurisdiction of the delegated judge, and it produces the prohibition of so-called attentata (v. ATTENTATO).
In addition to these procedural effects, the citation further achieves the typically substantive effect of the interruption of prescription, whether extinctive or acquisitive (cf. ibid., cann. 1508 and 1725 n. 4).
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Fernando Della Rocca