Writ - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: writwrit
writ [Old English, something written] 1 : a letter that was issued in the name of the English monarch from Anglo-Saxon times to declare his grants, wishes, and commands 2 : an order or mandatory process in writing issued in the name of the sovereign or of a court or judicial officer commanding the person to whom it is directed to perform or refrain from performing a specified act NOTE: The writ was a vital official instrument in the old common law of England. A plaintiff commenced a suit at law by choosing the proper form of action and obtaining a writ appropriate to the remedy sought; its issuance forced the defendant to comply or to appear in court and defend. Writs were also in constant use for financial and political purposes of government. While the writ no longer governs civil pleading and has lost many of its applications, the extraordinary writs esp. of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, and certiorari indicate its historical importance as an instrument of judicial auth...
Deliverance, second, writ of
Deliverance, second, writ of. The judgment of non pros. In replevin at Common Law is, that the defendant shall have a return of the goods replevied, and his costs. The plaintiff, however, is not prevented by this judgment from proceeding, for he may sue out the judicial writ of second deliverance, in execution of which the sheriff must again take the goods from the defendant and deliver them to the plaintiff, or the writ will operate in the sheriff's hand as a supersedeas of the writ de retorno habendo, if the latter writ has not as yet been executed. The proceedings upon this writ are the same as in ordinary cases of replevin, and if the defendant have judgment either upon verdict, demurrer, or of non pros., it is for a return irreplevisable, and he shall have a writ de retorno habendo, which being executed, the plaintiff cannot have any further writ of deliverance, 2 Chit. Arch. Prac. See REPLEVIN....
Restitution, Writ of
Restitution, Writ of. If the judgment below was reserved in a court of error, the plaintiff in error might have had a writ of restitution in order that he might be restored to all he had lost by the judgment. If execution on the former judgment had been actually executed, and the money paid over, the writ of restitution issued without any previous scire facias quare restitutionem non, suggesting the matter of fact, viz., the sum levied, etc., must have previously issued. Error is now abolished (Jud. Act, 1875, Ord. LVIII., r. 1). And, generally, if money, etc., be levied under a writ of execution, and the judgment be afterwards reversed or set aside, the party against whom the execution was sued out may have his writ of restitution; but where the judgment is set aside for irregularity, etc., restitution (when necessary) forms part of the rule; and if the goods or money be not restored, the Court will grant an attachment. A writ of restitution may also be awarded when a judgment in ejec...
Ground-writ
Ground-writ. Before the C.L.P. Act, 1852, a ca. Sa. (capias ad satisfaciendum, (q.v.) or fi. fa. (fieri facias, q.v.) could not be issued into a county different from that in which the venue in the action was laid, without first issuing a writ called a ground-writ into the latter county, and then another writ, which was called a testatum writ, into the former. The 121st s. of that Act abolished this useless process. See EXECUTION....
Original Writ or Original
Original Writ or Original [breve originale, Lat.], was the beginning or foundation of a real action at Common Law. It is also applied to processes for some other purposes.It was a mandatory letter issuing out of the Common Law or ordinary jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (see now CHANCERY), under the Great Seal, and in the sovereign's name, addressed to the sheriff of the county where the injury was committed, containing a summary statement of the cause of complaint, andrequiring him to command the defendant to satisfy the claim, and, on his failure to comply, then to summon him to appear in one of the superior Courts of Common Law. In some cases it simply required the sheriff to enforce the appearance. Original writs differed from each other in their tenor, according to the nature of the plaintiff's complaint, and were conceived in fixed and certain forms. Many of these are of a remote antiquity; others are of later origin, and their history is as follows:-The ancient writs had p...
Writ
Writ [breve, Lat.], a judicial process, by which any one is summoned as an offender; a legal instrument to enforce obedience to the orders and sentences of the courts. For the particular writs, see their distinctive names, as assistance, capias, etc.The (English) Real Property Limitation Act, 1833, abolished all writs in real and mixed actions (except in dower unde nihil habet, quare impedit or ejectment), expressly naming sixty abolished writs (e.g., the writ of right de rationabili parte, of quo jure, of assize of novel disseisin, of entry sur disseisin in the quibus, of waste, of partition, and of per qu' servitia. See also Co. Litt.; Hargr. And Butler's Notes to s. 101, and Index to Notes, ibid. 18th Edn.The most used modern writ is the Writ of Summons, by which (corresponding to the 'Plaint' in a County Court) an action in the High Court of Justice is commenced. See SUMMONS, and for other writs in actions see EXECUTION, ELEGIT, FIERI FACIAS, POSSESSION, and VENDITIONI EXPONAS. For...
Inquiry, writ of
Inquiry, writ of. This is a writ addressed to the sheriff of the county in which the venue is laid, stating the proceedings in an action, and 'because it is unknown what damages the plaintiff has sustained,' commanding the sheriff that, by the oath of twelve men of his county, he diligently inquire into the same, and return the inquisition into court. The writ is necessary after an interlocutory judgment, the defendant having let judgment go by default, to ascertain the quantum of damages.By (English) R.S.C.1883, Ord. XIII., r. 5, it is provided that where the defendant fails to appear and the plaintiff's claim is for detention of goods and damages, or either of them, interlocutory judgment may be entered, and a writ of inquiry shall issue to assess the value of the goods and the damages, or the damages only, as the case may be; see also Ord. XXXVI., r. 57. By Ord. XXXIII., r. 2, the Court or a judge may at any stage of the proceedings in a cause or matter direct any necessary inquirie...
Si non omnes, Writ of
Si non omnes, Writ of, a writ on association of justices, by which, if all in commission cannot meet at the day assigned, it is allowed that two or more of them may finish the business, Fitz. N.B. 186; Reg. Brev. 202. And after the writ of association, it is usual to make out a writ of si non omnes, addressed to the first justices, and also to those who are associated with them, which, reciting the purport of the two former commissions, commands the justices that if all of them cannot conveniently be present, such a number of them may proceed, etc., Fitz. N.B. 111...
Writ of quo warranto
Writ of quo warranto, a writ of quo warranto is a writ which lies against the person, who according to the relator is not entitled to hold an office of public nature and is only a usurper of the office. It is the person, against whom the writ of quo warranto is directed, who is required to show, by what authority that person is entitled to hold the office, B.R. Kapur v. State of Tamil Nadu, (2001) 7 SCC 231 (315)....
Writ of certiorari
Writ of certiorari, certiorari jurisdiction can be exercised only for correcting errors of jurisdiction committed by inferior Courts or Tribunals. A writ of certiorari can be issued only in the exercise of supervisory jurisdiction which is different from appellate jurisdiction. The writ jurisdiction extends only to cases where orders are passed by inferior Courts or Tribunals in excess of their jurisdiction or as a result of their refusal to exercise jurisdiction vested in them or they act illegally or improperly in the exercise of their jurisdiction causing gave miscarriage of justice, Swarn Singh v. State of Punjab, (1976) 2 SCC 868 (872): AIR 1976 SC 232. (Constitution of India, Art. 226)...
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