Short answer. Yes. Rule 102, Section 7 allows the person to be identified by name if known, or otherwise described or identified if not; the writ may be served in any province by the sheriff, another proper officer, or a court-deputed person, following the actual custodian if the named one cannot be found.
What the law says
The person to be produced should be designated in the writ by his name, if known, but if his name is not known he may be otherwise described or identified.
Rule 102, Section 7 — How prisoner designated and writ served. Read the full provision →
Identifying the person without a name
The person to be produced should be designated in the writ by his name, if known, but if his name is not known he may be otherwise described or identified — a physical or circumstantial description can substitute for a name entirely. This might include physical features, the location where the person is believed detained, or the circumstances of the detention itself — whatever identifying detail lets the custodian and the court both be confident the writ refers to the specific person held, even without a name to attach to them.
Who may serve it, and where
The writ may be served in any province by the sheriff or other proper officer, or by a person deputed by the court or judge, so service is not confined to the issuing court's own home province. This matters because a detainee, or the custodian holding them, may be located far from where the petition was originally filed, and limiting service to the court's home province could let a custodian evade the writ simply by keeping the person elsewhere in the country.
How service itself is carried out
Service is made by leaving the original with the person to whom it is directed and preserving a copy on which to make return of service, giving the officer proof of what was done. Keeping that copy lets the serving officer later certify to the court exactly when and how service was accomplished, which becomes important if the custodian later claims never to have received the writ or disputes the timeline for compliance.
Following the actual custodian
If the person named cannot be found, or does not actually have the prisoner in custody, service is made instead on any other person having or exercising that custody — service tracks whoever really holds the detainee, not just whoever was first named. This prevents a custodian from defeating the writ simply by transferring the detainee to someone else before service, or from a petitioner naming the wrong custodian in good faith, since the rule adapts to wherever actual custody has ended up.
Related provisions
- Rule 102, Section 7 — How prisoner designated and writ served
- Rule 102, Section 6 — To whom writ directed, and what to require
- Rule 102, Section 8 — How writ executed and returned