CITATION. — In canonical procedure, citation, unlike what generally occurs in civil procedural systems (where one party often cites the other), is an order of the judge, since it is by means of citation that the judge summons the parties to court (vocatio in ius) so that, in the duly instituted action, they may assert their claims, with reference to what has been set forth in the libellus, which, conversely, is the act properly initiating the proceedings.
It should nevertheless be noted that citation is not necessary when the parties appear personally before the court to conduct the action.
Among the various kinds of citation, there should be mentioned, on the one hand, written, verbal, or real citations (the latter possessing the characteristics of a manus iniectio) and, on the other, private or personal and edictal or public citations, which are respectively employed according as the citation is effected by directly summoning the person (through the cursor and the postal service or the person’s own relatives) or by posting it on the doors of the court and publishing it 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), since it is an order of the judge, who acts by means of a decree bearing, naturally, his signature, as well as the seal of the court.
Materially, the citation is drawn up on a special form, called the
citation form, which must contain the essential elements of the vocatio in ius (the judge’s name, the order to appear, the names, surnames and domiciles of the parties, and the place and time of the 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 parties’ knowledge by means of notification, which is undertaken, in the exercise of his public ministry, by the process server (v.). The method of notification varies, ranging from delivery to the person concerned, to delivery to one of his family members or servants, and to the use of the postal service and the edict (cf. ibid., can. 1717 ff.).
The report of notification, which is dated and signed by the process server (ibid., can. 1722 § 1), must indicate the manner and time in which the notification was carried out and is a public document, enjoying as such full evidentiary force unless challenged as false (ibid., can. 1593).
Once notification has been made, the citation produces, from a procedural standpoint, full lis pendency (v. LITE PENDENTE) and, in particular: it makes the substantive legal relationship contentious; it makes the case proper to the judge before whom the action has been brought; it renders firm and established the jurisdiction of the delegated judge; and it produces the prohibition of the so-called attentata (v. ATTENTATO).
In addition to these procedural effects, the citation also produces the typically substantive effect of interrupting both extinctive and acquisitive prescription (cf. ibid., cann. 1508 and 1725 n. 4).
Vidal, VI (1928), nn. 378-93; M. Lega, Commentarius in iudicia ecclesiastica, II, Roma 1939; M. Conte a Coronata, Institutiones iuris canonici, III, Torino-Roma 1941; F. Della Rocca, Istituzioni di diritto processuale canonico, Torino 1946.
Fernando Della Rocca