SA Incorrect information on Summons - Is It Legal?

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dani888316

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11 November 2015
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I was given a summons at my door at 12pm at night while I was on police curfew (so they knew my correct name and address), yet on the summons, my name was spelled wrong, and the address was for 10 houses down the street, so it also has an incorrect address.

The summons say it is for "an AFFRAY by being one of two people or more persons presented who used unlawful violence towards another and the conduct was such that it would cause a person of reasonable firmness to fear their personal safety!"

Is this document legal due to wrong name and address? Don't they have to get the address on the summons is not mine, but 10 houses down?
 

Tim W

Lawyer
LawConnect (LawTap) Verified
28 April 2014
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Summons are issued (as lawyers say) in personam.
That is, they are issued to a person.

The address is but one of several ways to identify and indicate the correct recipient.
If you are in fact the person for whom the summons is intended,
then a wrong name or a wrong detail such as an address will almost never invalidate it.

In other words - yes, it's "legal", and no, you don't have any legal "out"
just because some plod can't type.
 
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