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A summons is an order, which is not what the committee has issued to Zuckerberg. The BBC's usage of the word is still incorrect. The procedure for soliciting e
by MistahKoala 9y ago
A summons is an order, which is not what the committee has issued to Zuckerberg. The BBC's usage of the word is still incorrect.
The procedure for soliciting evidence before a select committee is first to extend an invitation - as has been done - and only after that would a summons be expected to be issued, if at all.
- dragonwriter 9y ago> A summons is an order, which is not what the committee has issued to Zuckerberg. The BBC's usage of the word is still incorrect. The BBC does not use the noun “summons” at all, it uses, in the headline, the verb participle “summoned”, which typically does not mean “issued a summons”.
- MistahKoala 9y agoMy bad. To clarify, something that is 'summoned' is ordered. Nothing has been ordered by the committee in respect of his anticipated evidence.
- dragonwriter 9y ago> To clarify, something that is 'summoned' is ordered. That is an overly narrow definition; “summoned” is broader than “ordered”. Google's excellent, OED-based search-integrated dictionary has, as the first definition of “summon”, “authoritatively or urgently call on (someone) to be present, especially as a defendant or witness in a law court”; you seem to want to limit the term to cases where the call is made authoritatively but not those where it is merely made urgently.