1.—(1) Any document which by virtue of these Rules is required to be served on any person need not be served personally unless the document is one which by an express provision of these Rules or by order of the Court is required to be so served.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not affect the power of the Court under any provision of these Rules to dispense with the requirement for personal service.
Personal service: Process server (O. 62, r. 2)
2.—(1) Personal service must be effected by a process server of the Court or by a solicitor or a solicitor’s clerk whose name and particulars have been notified to the Registrar for this purpose:
Provided that the Registrar may, in a particular cause or matter, allow personal service to be effected by any other named person and shall, in that case, cause to be marked on the document required to be served personally, a memorandum to that effect.
(2) Whenever the service of a document is attended with expense, a process server shall not, except by order of the Registrar, be bound to serve the document, unless reasonable expenses thereof have been tendered in the Registry by the party requiring the service.
(3) Where service is by a process server, the Registrar shall forthwith give written notice to the plaintiff or person at whose instance the process is issued or to his solicitor, of the fact and manner of such service.
Personal service: How effected (O. 62, r. 3)
3.—(1) Personal service of a document is effected by leaving with the person to be served —
(a)
in the case of an originating process, a sealed copy; and
(b)
in any other case, a copy of the document.
(2) Personal service of a document may also be effected in such other manner as may be agreed between the party serving and the party to be served.
Personal service on body corporate (O. 62, r. 4)
4. Personal service of a document on a body corporate may, in cases for which provision is not otherwise made by any written law, be effected by serving it in accordance with Rule 3 on the chairman or president of the body, or the secretary, treasurer or other similar officer thereof.
Substituted service (O. 62, r. 5)
5.—(1) If, in the case of any document which by virtue of any provision of these Rules is required to be served personally on any person, it appears to the Court that it is impracticable for any reason to serve that document personally on that person, the Court may make an order in Form 136 for substituted service of that document.
(2) An application for an order for substituted service must be made by summons supported by an affidavit in Form 137 stating the facts on which the application is founded.
(3) Substituted service of a document, in relation to which an order is made under this Rule, is effected by taking such steps as the Court may direct to bring the document to the notice of the person to be served.
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (3), the steps which the Court may direct to be taken for substituted service of a document to be effected include the use of such electronic means (including electronic mail or Internet transmission) as the Court may specify.
Ordinary service: How effected (O. 62, r. 6)
6.—(1) Service of any document, not being a document which by virtue of any provision of these Rules is required to be served personally, may be effected —
(a)
by leaving the document at the proper address of the person to be served;
(b)
by post;
(c)
by FAX in accordance with paragraph (3);
(d)
in such other manner as may be agreed between the party serving and the party to be served; or
(e)
in such other manner as the Court may direct.
(2) For the purpose of this Rule, and of section 2 of the Interpretation Act (Cap. 1), in its application to this Rule, the proper address of any person on whom a document is to be served in accordance with this Rule shall be the address for service of that person, but if at the time when service is effected that person has no address for service his proper address for the purpose aforesaid shall be —
(a)
in any case, the business address of the solicitor (if any) who is acting for him in the proceedings in connection with which service of the document in question is to be effected;
(b)
in the case of an individual, his usual or last known address;
(c)
in the case of individuals who are suing or being sued in the name of a firm, the principal or last known place of business of the firm within the jurisdiction; and
(d)
in the case of a body corporate, the registered or principal office of the body.
(3) Service by FAX may be effected where —
(a)
the party serving the document acts by a solicitor;
(b)
the party on whom the document is served acts by a solicitor and service is effected by transmission to the business address of such a solicitor;
(c)
the solicitor acting for the party on whom the document is served has indicated in writing to the solicitor serving the document that he is willing to accept service by FAX at a specified FAX number and the document is transmitted to that number; and for this purpose the inscription of a FAX number on the writing paper of a solicitor shall not be deemed to indicate that such a solicitor is willing to accept service by FAX at that number in accordance with this paragraph; and
(d)
within 3 days after the day of service by FAX the solicitor acting for the party serving the document serves a copy of it on the solicitor acting for the other party by any of the other methods of service set out in paragraph (1), and if he fails to do so, the document shall be deemed never to have been served by FAX.
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(e), the manner in which the Court may direct service of any document to be effected includes the use of such electronic means (including electronic mail or Internet transmission) as the Court may specify.
(5) Nothing in this Rule shall be taken as prohibiting the personal service of any document or as affecting any written law which provides for the manner in which documents may be served on bodies corporate.
Time for service (O. 62, r. 6A)
6A. Where any document is served before midnight on any particular day, it shall be deemed to have been served on that day.
Service on Minister, etc., in proceedings which are not by or against Government (O. 62, r. 7)
7. Where for the purpose of or in connection with any proceedings, not being civil proceedings by or against the Government within the meaning of Part III of the Government Proceedings Act (Cap. 121), any document is required by any written law or these Rules to be served on the Minister of a Government department which is an authorised department for the purposes of that Act, or on such a department or on the Attorney-General, section 20 of the said Act and Order 73, Rule 3 shall apply in relation to the service of the document as they apply in relation to the service of documents required to be served on the Government for the purpose of or in connection with any civil proceedings by or against the Government.
Effect of service after certain hours (O. 62, r. 8)
8.—(1) Where the service of any document is effected under these Rules on a working day before 4 p.m., it shall, for the purpose of computing any period of time after service of that document, be deemed to have been served on that working day, and, in any other case, on the working day next following.
(2) For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this Rule shall be construed as prescribing the hours within which service must be effected in order to be valid.
Affidavit of service (O. 62, r. 9)
9. An affidavit of service of any document must state by whom the document was served, the day of the week and date on which it was served, where it was served and how, and must be in one of the forms in Form 138.
No service required in certain cases (O. 62, r. 10)
10. Where by virtue of these Rules any document is required to be served on any person but is not required to be served personally, and at the time when service is to be effected that person is in default as to entry of appearance or has no address for service, the document need not be served on that person unless the Court otherwise directs or any of these Rules otherwise provides.
Dispensation of service (O. 62, r. 11)
11. The Court may, in an appropriate case, dispense with service of any document on any person.
