Summary Proceeding
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
A form of trial in which the ancient established course of legal proceedings is disregarded, especially in the matter of trial by jury, and, in the case of the heavier crimes, presentment by a grand jury.
See 8 Gray (Mass.) 329.
In no case can the party be tried summarily unless when such proceedings are authorized by legislative authority, except perhaps in cases of contempts; for the common law is a stranger to such a mode of trial.
4 Bl. Comm. 280. See 2 Kent, Comm. (6th Ed.) 73; 2 Conn. 819; 4 Conn. 535; 37 Me. 172; 4 Hill (N. Y.) 145; 8 Gray (Mass.) 329; 4 Dev. (N. C.) 15; 10 Yerg. (Tenn.) 59.