Summoners
Defined in 4 dictionaries — Cyclopedic (1922), Bouvier (1914), Black's (1910), Abbott (1879)
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
Petty officers who cite men to appear in any court. SUMMONITIO (Law Lat.)
In old English practice. A suttimoning or summons; a writ by which a party was summoned to appear in court, of which there were various kinds. Spelman; Fleta, lib. 6, c. 6. A command or precept of the king that one be before him to answer or do something, or that one be and have such a one to answer or to do something. Bracton, fol. 333. SUMMONITIONES AUT CITATIONES nullae liceant fieri intra palatium regis. Let no summonses or citations be served within the king's palace. 3 Inst. 141.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
Petty officers who cite men to appear in any court.
Black's Law Dictionary
Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
or summonitores. Were petty officers to cite and warn men to appear, properly the apparitors, who warned in delinquents at a certain time and place, to answer any charge or complaint exhibited against them; and, in citations from a superior court, they were to be equals of the party cited; at least, the barons were to be summoned by none under the degree of knights. (Paroch. Antiq. 177.) Summonitores scaccarii were officers who assisted in collecting the king's revenues, by citing the defaulters therein, into the court of exchequer. Jacob.