Issue of summons to defendant

(1) Whenever a complaint is made before a magistrate that any person has committed, or is suspected to have committed, any summary conviction offence within his jurisdiction, the magistrate may issue his summons directed to that person, stating concisely the substance of the complaint, and requiring him to appear at a certain time not less than forty-eight hours after the service of the summons and at a certain place, before the court of the magistrate to answer the complaint, and to be further dealt with according to law, but the court may, if it thinks fit, with the consent of the parties, 21 hear and determine a complaint notwithstanding that the period of forty-eight hours may not have elapsed. (2) Nothing in this section shall oblige any magistrate to issue the summons in any case where the application for an order may by law be made ex parte.