When the person to be served belongs to a military building or vessel, who must receive the papers for service to be made?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file, we read the papers showing that the addressee belonged to that military building or vessel at the relevant time, and the proof of service recording the name and position of the head who received the papers, because the provision turns on both facts.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the provision at its word: where the person to be served belongs to a military building or vessel, service is made to the head of that building or vessel, and the head is the one who receives the papers rather than the person named in them.
Another reading notes the limit of the provision: it states to whom service is made but says nothing about how a person's belonging to that building or vessel is to be shown, and nothing about what the head must do afterwards to pass the papers on to the person, so the file has to carry that showing itself.
Your judgment
If the file does not record the addressee's connection to that building or vessel, what other paper could show that connection on the date of service?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change who receives service for a person belonging to a military building or vessel, or if a court decision explains what shows that a person so belongs.