What must a warrant for taking a juvenile or guardian into custody state on its face, and whose signature completes it?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the copy of the warrant itself against each listed item, and we look for the signature and seal of the judge of the juvenile department, because the provision makes that signature part of the warrant's form. Any paper showing what the warrant contained at the time of execution, and any record of the warrant's return once its validity lapsed, bears on the same conditions.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the list as a full set of face conditions: the warrant must state the name of the juvenile or the guardian, the age, the residence, a summary of the act, the place to which the person is to be taken or in which the person is to be detained, the period of validity together with the statement that once that period has passed execution may not be commenced and the warrant must be returned, and the date of issue; and the judge of the juvenile department must sign and seal it.
Another reading notes that the provision governs the form of the warrant alone: it says nothing about who may apply for one, on what finding, or what execution after commencement involves, so a warrant carrying every listed item and the judge's signature and seal leaves those questions to other parts of the Juvenile Act.
Your judgment
If one listed item was supplied only after the judge signed and sealed the warrant, how could the file show what the warrant contained when execution began?
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 add, remove or reword any listed item, or if a court decision decides whether omitting a listed item affects the warrant's force.