Terms Used In 19 Guam Code Ann. § 5109

  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
rvice of summons shall be made personally by the delivery of an attested copy thereof to the person summoned; provided, that if the judge is satisfied that it is impracticable to serve personally such summons or the notice provided for the preceding Section, he may order service by registered or certified mail addressed to the last known address, or by publication thereof, or both. It shall be sufficient to confer jurisdiction if service is effected at least forty-eight (48) hours before the time fixed in the summons for the return thereof. If the child is in custody at the times required for serving of the summons, and at the time of the hearing to which the summons refers, no such summons is required to obtain jurisdiction over the child.
Service by summons process or notice required by this Chapter may be made by any suitable person under the direction of the court and upon request of the court, shall be made by any police officer. The judge may authorize the payment of necessary traveling expenses incurred by any person summoned or otherwise required to appear at the hearing of any case coming within the purview of this Chapter, and such expenses when approved by the judge shall be a charge upon the government of Guam.
SOURCE: CCP § 258 as modified and enacted by P.L. 17-012:2 as 19
GCA § 5109.

COMMENT: One sentence is added to this Section as originally enacted, and this refers to the child who is in custody and who remains in custody up until the time of whatever hearing is scheduled. The former section
seemed to be a mere exercise in extra paper work, since it would be the responsibility of the court, and the officials of the Department of Youth Affairs, to bring the child to the hearing, regardless of the receipt of any summons. Of course, some form of notification will be necessary to physically have the child brought from wherever he is in custody under the new Department of Youth Affairs to the court. This method of notice can be worked out by the court and the Department of Youth Affairs and does not need to be a statutory form of notice.

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