Section 142 — Orders and notices to be in writing
A short, firm rule of record. All orders and notices served on or given to any person under the Code must be in writing — never merely oral. It guarantees a clear, provable record of what the court has ordered and what a party has been told.
How to read Section 142
What it covers
All orders and notices made or issued under the provisions of the Code — a blanket rule, not limited to any one kind.
To whom
Those served on or given to any person — whether a party, witness or anyone else dealt with under the Code.
The rule
They shall be in writing. An oral order or notice is not the form the Code contemplates — writing is mandatory.
The bare Act
All orders and notices served on or given to any person under the provisions of this Code shall be in writing.
In short: nothing the Code requires to be ordered or notified is left to word of mouth — every such order and notice must take written form, so there is always a record of it.
→ § 142 is a rule of form: it does not say what orders or notices may be made, only that whatever the Code authorises must be reduced to writing. This underpins service, proof and certainty throughout the Code — an oral “order” or “notice” does not meet its requirement.
Key terms decoded
A formal direction of the Court made under the Code — e.g. an order on an application, for attachment, or for appearance.
A formal communication the Code requires or permits — e.g. notice to a defendant, or notice of an application or hearing.
The ways an order / notice reaches a person — formal service, or simply being given to him. Either way, § 142 applies.
The rule binds orders and notices made under the Code — it is the Code’s own orders and notices that must be written.
Mandatory form. The order or notice must exist as a written document — an oral version is not what the Code requires.
It gives certainty, a record and proof — avoiding later disputes about exactly what was ordered or notified, and enabling clean service.
The picture — nothing left to word of mouth
§ 142 is small but load-bearing: by insisting that every order and notice be written, it gives the rest of the Code something fixed to serve, to prove, and to rely on.
Part by part — the one sentence
All orders and notices…
Both orders (directions of the Court) and notices (formal communications) — the rule covers them all.
…served on or given to any person under the provisions of this Code…
It bites whenever an order / notice is served on or given to a person under the Code — whoever that person is.
…shall be in writing.
Mandatory written form. An oral order or notice does not satisfy § 142 — it must be put in writing.
Why it matters
A written record is the backbone of fair procedure
Three things flow from § 142’s simple insistence on writing.
Connected provisions
Section 142 is a form rule among Part XI’s machinery provisions. By requiring orders and notices to be written, it underpins the Code’s rules on service of process and on the record generally.