| law |
written legal order directing a witness to appear in court to testify or requiring evidence to be submitted to a court, etc; a summons issued to a person directing their attendance in Court to give evidence (Unlike a summons, a subpoena may command the recipient to produce evidence necessary to the resolution of a legal matter or controversy.); a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure (There are two common types of subpoena: subpoena ad testificandum orders a person to testify before the ordering authority or face punishment. subpoena duces tecum orders a person to bring physical evidence before the ordering authority or face punishment.  wikipedia.org); An official order to go to court at a certain time. Subpoenas are commonly used to tell witnesses to come to court to testify in a trial |
