Service of a claim is the procedure used to give legal notice to a defendant of a court's exercise of its jurisdiction over the defendant, enabling them to respond to the proceedings before the court.

In some cases where the English court has jurisdiction to resolve a dispute, one or more defendants may be located outside the court's jurisdiction. This practice note sets out the framework for service of English claim forms and other documents on defendants outside England and Wales. It explains the rules which determine whether the claim can be served with or without the court's permission and the procedure for effecting service under the different regimes that apply, depending on where the defendant is domiciled. It also covers service of foreign proceedings in England and Wales. It does not cover serving foreign proceedings in another foreign jurisdiction, for which local advice must be sought.

The rules governing service changed on 1 October 2008 under the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2008 (SI 2008/2178) which include a new Part 6 (Service of documents) and consequential amendments to other rules. These changes come in the wake of a consultation carried out by the Ministry of Justice. For more information see Practice note, Service: the main proposed changes to CPR 6. Note also that a new service regulation aimed at enhancing the existing regime was published in the Official Journal on 10 December 2007 and will apply from 13 November 2008. See Legal update, New EU service regulation will apply from 13 November 2008 and, for more information on the modifications introduced by the new regulation, see Legal update, European Parliament adopts new service regulation.