Summary

adj. Immediate; peremptory ; off-hand; without a jury; provisional; statutory.

— Summary actions. In Scotch law. Those which are brought into court not by summons, but by petition, corresponding to summary proceedings in English courts. Bell; Brown. -Summary conviction. See Conviction.

— Summary jnrisdiction. See Jurisdiction.

— Summary procedure on hills of exchange. This phrase refers to the statute 18 & 19 Vich c. 67, passed in 1855, for the purpose of facilitating the remedies on bills and notes by the prevention of frivolous or fictitious defenses. By this stafute, a defendant in an action on a bili or note, brought within six months after it has become payable, is prohibited from defending the action without the leave of the court or a judge. See 2 Steph. Comm. 118, note ; Lush, Pr. 1027.

— Summary proceeding. See Pboceeding.

n. An abridgment; brief; compendium; also a short application to a court or judge, without the formality of a full proceeding. Wharton.

Hasty; provisional; without a jury; statutory; without an action at law.

adj. Immediate; peremptory; speedy; without delay. This word appears in the title of a number of legal proceedings, the general characteristic feature of which is, that they are designed to reach a decision quickly, in a simple and inexpensive manner, and without delay, even for formal pleadings and jury trial. The following are proceedings of this nature often mentioned in the books; there may be many others. Summary proceeding is,a generic term, and may be employed for any remedy like those mentioned. Summary action. In Scotch law, summary actions are those which are brought into court not by summons but by petition. The^ either relate to practitioners or parties already in court, or belong to a class which have been introduced by statute. {Bell.) They correspond to summary proceedings in English courts, whether by motion or petition in the superior courts, or by complaint before justices of the peace. {Paterson.) Broum. Summary oouviotlon. A trial of oifenders, before a magistrate or bench of magistrates, without the intervention of a jury, is authorized by the statutes of many of the states, and by acts of parliament in England. These trials no intervention of a jury, but the party accused is acquitted or condemned by the suffrage of such person only as the statute has appointed to be his judge. A conviction reached on such a magistrate's trial is called a summary conviction. In state statutes of this kind the constitutional right of trial by jury is sometimes saved, if the statute would otherwise trahscend it, by giving the accused a right to demand a transfer of the cause to a court having a jury; so that a summary conviction can occur only when he impliedly consents to that mode of proceeding. Summary proceedings. By this phrase, which is of frequent recurrence in books on the jurisprudence of New York state, and those on the law of landlord and tenant, is generally meant a statutory proceeding for the prompt dispossession of a tenant who is holding over after default in payment of rent, or after expiration of his term, and designated in the statute as summary proceedings to recover possession of lands. Summary procedure on bills of exchange. This phrase refers to the statute 18 & 19 Vict. ch. 67, passed in 1855, for the purpose of facilitating the remedies on bills and notes by the prevention of frivolous or fictitious defences. By this statute, a defendant in an action on a bill or note, brought within six months after it has become payable, is prohibited from defending the action without the leave of the court or a judge. See 2 Steph, Com. 118, note; Lush Pract. 1027.