Quick Answer:

A process server is a person employed to deliver a summons or complaint to an individual being sued, or to deliver a subpoena to a witness. This delivery, or serving, is known as the service of process, or process service.

Detailed Answer:

Service of process is the service of writs, summonses, subpoenas, and other court documents. The act signifies the delivering to or leaving of such documents with the party to whom, or with whom, they ought to be delivered or left. When they are so delivered, they are then said to have been served.

A more formal way to look at the service of process is the procedure employed to give legal notice to the person (defendant, etc.) of a court or administrative body proceeding, to the person that the document is directed to. This enables the person to respond to the proceeding before the court, body or other tribunal. Usually, notice is furnished by delivering a set of court documents (summons, complaints, subpoenas, orders to show cause, writs, and other court documents) to the person to be served.

In most Anglo-American legal systems, such as in the United States, the service of process is effectuated by a legal process server who must be an adult and (in most jurisdictions) not a party to the litigation.

Legal process servers serve (deliver) legal documents such as summons, complaints, subpoenas, orders to show cause, writs, and other court documents to an individual that is involved in a court case. The legal document(s) must be served by the process server in accordance with the rules and laws in the area, county, or state that the service is being performed in. Service is considered when the documents are personally handed to the defendant, or when the defendant cannot be served personally, sub-serving to someone in the same household or business. After serving the documents, a process server must complete an Affidavit of Service, which is also called a Proof of Service. This Affidavit or Proof of Service verifies that the papers were served by the process server. It must be notarized and returned to the party that requested service.

Some jurisdictions require or permit process to be served by a court official or court officer, such as a sheriff, marshal, constable, or bailiff. There may be licensing requirements for private process servers, as in New York City. Other jurisdictions, such as Georgia, require a court order allowing a private person to serve process. Many private investigators perform process serving as part of their duties. ^{Process Server-1}

In non-English speaking countries such as France, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, and China, which follow the continental legal system based on the Napoleonic legal codes, service of process is performed by a huissier de justice (gerechtsdeurwaarder in Dutch), either in person or through the mail. In those countries, there are two different types of service — signification and notification. The huissier is only responsible for signification, the more formal type of service. ^{Process Server-1}

^{Process Server-1:} Service of process. (2006, September 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Service_of_process&oldid=77311963

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