Massachusetts Subpoena
A notary public or a justice of the peace can issue a Massachusetts witness summons, and the rates are six dollars a day and ten cents a mile out and home. Attorney review available.
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Introduction
Massachusetts is one of the few places where compulsory process does not have to come from a courthouse at all. Chapter 233, Section 1 provides that a clerk of a court of record, a notary public or a justice of the peace may issue summonses for witnesses in all cases pending before courts, magistrates, auditors, referees, arbitrators or other persons authorized to examine witnesses, and at hearings on applications for complaints charging a crime. The one carve-out is criminal: a notary public or justice of the peace may not issue a witness summons in a criminal case except at the request of the attorney general, a district attorney, or another person acting in the case for the commonwealth or the defendant, and a summons issued at the defendant's request has to say so on its face. There is no numbered statewide form to hunt for either, because the statute says the summons shall be in the form heretofore adopted and commonly used, alterable from time to time like other writs. The money is modest and precisely drawn. Chapter 262, Section 29 sets the fee at six dollars a day and ten cents a mile for travel out and home, with a proviso that quietly changes the arithmetic: if the witness has a usual place of business or employment in the city or town where the court trial or hearing is held, travel is reckoned out and to that workplace, not out and home. And the witness is not obliged to come at all unless the legal fees for one day's attendance and travel are paid or tendered (Section 3). DocDraft prepares your Massachusetts witness summons from your facts, and attorney review is available before service.
Key Things to Know
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A Massachusetts subpoena, which the General Laws call a summons for a witness, is compulsory process in a pending case or hearing that requires a named person to attend and give testimony before a court, magistrate, auditor, referee, arbitrator or other person authorized to examine witnesses.
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A clerk of a court of record, a notary public or a justice of the peace may issue it. In criminal cases a notary or justice of the peace may issue one only at the request of the attorney general, a district attorney, or another person acting for the commonwealth or the defendant (M.G.L. c. 233, Section 1).
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There is no numbered statewide form. The summons shall be in the form heretofore adopted and commonly used, but may be altered from time to time like other writs (M.G.L. c. 233, Section 1).
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The fee is six dollars a day and ten cents a mile for travel out and home (M.G.L. c. 262, Section 29), and each witness shall certify in writing the amount of his travel and attendance.
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If the witness has a usual place of business or employment in the city or town where the court trial or hearing is held, travel is reckoned out and to that place of business or employment, and not out and home (M.G.L. c. 262, Section 29).
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No person shall be required to attend as a witness in a civil case unless the legal fees for one day's attendance and for travel to and from the place are paid or tendered, with an exception for a witness summoned for an indigent criminal defendant (M.G.L. c. 233, Section 3).
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A person duly summoned who fails without sufficient excuse to attend is liable to the aggrieved party in tort for all damages caused by the failure (M.G.L. c. 233, Section 4), and the failure is also a contempt punishable in a civil matter by a fine of not more than twenty dollars (Section 5).
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Subpoena in Massachusetts, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Subpoena guide walks through them.
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Massachusetts Requirements for Subpoena
Attendance Fee of Six Dollars a Day
M.G.L. c. 262, Section 29 sets the fee for attending as a witness at six dollars a day. It covers attendance before the general court, the supreme judicial court, the superior court, the land court, a probate court, a district court, county commissioners, a trial justice, a referee, an arbitrator and other bodies, and any other occasion for which no express provision is made.
Ten Cents a Mile, Out and Home
Travel is paid at ten cents a mile for travel out and home (M.G.L. c. 262, Section 29). It is a flat statutory cents figure rather than an administrative rate that moves each year.
Travel Measured From Work, Not Home, in Some Cases
If the witness has a usual place of business or employment in the city or town where the court trial or hearing is held, travel shall be reckoned out and to that place of business or employment, and not out and home (M.G.L. c. 262, Section 29). Ask where the witness normally works before computing the mileage.
A Clerk, a Notary Public or a Justice of the Peace Issues It
A clerk of a court of record, a notary public or a justice of the peace may issue summonses for witnesses in all cases pending before courts, magistrates, auditors, referees, arbitrators or other persons authorized to examine witnesses (M.G.L. c. 233, Section 1). In criminal cases a notary or justice of the peace may issue one only at the request of the attorney general, a district attorney or another person acting for the commonwealth or the defendant.
No Numbered Statewide Form
The summons shall be in the form heretofore adopted and commonly used, but may be altered from time to time like other writs (M.G.L. c. 233, Section 1). There is no numbered statewide template to download, so the content is governed by long-standing practice.
No Duty to Attend Unless Fees Are Paid or Tendered
No person shall be required to attend as a witness in a civil case, or for the defendant in a criminal case, unless the legal fees for one day of attendance and for travel to and from the place where the person is required to attend are paid or tendered. A witness summoned for an indigent criminal defendant is excepted (M.G.L. c. 233, Section 3).
Service in Any County, by an Officer or a Disinterested Person
The summons may be served in any county by an officer qualified to serve civil process or by a disinterested person, by exhibiting and reading it to the witness, by giving the witness a copy, or by leaving a copy at the place of abode (M.G.L. c. 233, Section 2).
Tort Damages, Plus a Twenty Dollar Civil Fine
A person duly summoned who fails without a sufficient excuse to attend is liable to the aggrieved party in tort for all damages caused by the failure (M.G.L. c. 233, Section 4). The failure is also a contempt, punishable by a fine of not more than twenty dollars in a matter other than a criminal prosecution (Section 5).