Most people here in the United States know little about process serving and its history. People often dread being served, but there's an important historical aspect to process serving that many people aren't even aware of. Service of process can be thought of as a noble and honorable profession.
We won't go into volumes here, but in past times and places, people didn't even have a right to know if they were involved in matters concerning the court system. You can see how that would impact people's lives. Legal actions could be decided without a person's knowledge until the local law enforcement showed up to confiscate their property, eject them from their home, or even haul them off to debtor's prison.
Sometimes people neither understand or appreciate exactly what rights our Constitution recognizes for us.
We have the right to "due process of the
law".
"Amendment V.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for
public use, without just compensation."
And then again:
"Amendment XIV.
1 All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
So historically the process server is the one who informs people of their constitutional rights to due process of the law by "serving" them with notice that there's an important legal that involves them.
In essence we serve people with their constitutional rights to due process of the law, something
that's extremely important.
Process servers also play an important role in helping people collect on their debts, get the child support that's due to them so they can support their children, and are involved in so many other vital roles in a civil society.
We believe it is truly a noble and righteous
profession.
The people who are aware of this fact, will quite often thank the process server instead of being abusive to her or him.
Colorado Process Servers welcomes any verifiable historical additions that you'd like to send us
for inclusion in this section of our site. We'd especially be interested in some photos or historical information on the very first process servers in Colorado.
