A legal order to a witness to appear at a certain place and time to testify or to produce documents?

• A. Deposition
• B. Subpoena
• C. Discovery
• D. Motion for summary judgment

Answer: (B)

A subpoena is a legal command that requires a person to appear at a specified time and place to give testimony, and it can also require the production of documents or other evidence. It can compel a witness to appear for a deposition or to testify at trial, and there is a variant called subpoena duces tecum that specifically orders documents to be produced.

A deposition, by contrast, is the sworn testimony given by a witness during the discovery process, usually taken outside of court and recorded, not the order itself. Discovery refers to the broader pretrial process of obtaining evidence, including requests for documents, interrogatories, and admissions, but it isn’t the command to appear. A motion for summary judgment is a procedural request asking the court to rule in one party’s favor because there are no material factual disputes, which has nothing to do with compelling witness appearance or document production.

So the term that best fits a legal order to a witness to appear and to produce documents is a subpoena.