Writ of habere facias possessionem:
“See HABERE PACIAS POSSESSIONEM.”
Writ of habere facias seisinam:
“See HABERE PACIAS SEISINAM.”
Writ of latitat:
“See LATITAT.”
Writ of levari facias:
“See LEVARI FACIAS.”
Writ of Mainprise:
“See MAINPRISE (3).”
Writ of Mandamus:
“See MANDAMUS.”
Writ of Mandate:
“See MANDATE (2).”
Writ of Mesne: (pronounced “meen”)
“See DE MEDIO.”
Writ of Mesne Process:
“See mesne process under PROCESS.”
Writ of Monstraverunt: “See MONSTRAVERUNT.”
Writ of Perambulation: “(18c) Hist. A common-law writ issued by agreement of both parties when they are in doubt about the bounds of their respective properties, directing
the sheriff to walk the jury around the property to set the boundaries with certainty. See
PERAMBULATION.”
Writ of Possession: “(17c.) A writ issued to recover the possession of land.”
Writ of Praecipe: “See PRAECIPE (1).”
Writ of Prevention: “(17c.) A writ to prevent the filing of a lawsuit. See QUIA
TIMET.”
Writ of Privilege: “(16c.) Hist. An action to enforce or maintain a privilege, usu. one granted by statute or by a court. Traditionally, the writ was used to protect legislators from arrest in civil suits during a legislative session. Parties and witnesses who did not
reside within a court’s jurisdiction were also privileged against service of process in civil suits while attending the court & while traveling to or from it.”
“The privilege of a suitor or witness to be exempt from
service of process while without the jurisdiction of his residence
for the purpose of attending court in an action to which he is a
party, or in which he is to be sworn as a witness, is a very
ancient one. It has always been held to extend to every
proceeding of a judicial nature taken in or emanating from a
duly-constituted tribunal which directly relates to the trial of
the issues involved. It is not simply a personal privilege, but it
is also the privilege of the court, & is deemed necessary for the
maintenance of its authority & dignity and in order to promote
the due and efficient administration of justice. At common law
a writ of privilege or protection would be granted to the party
or witness by the court in which the action was pending, which
would be respected by all other courts… [T]he writ may still be
granted by courts possessing a common law jurisdiction; but
while the granting of the writ is proper, it is not necessary for
the enjoyment of the privilege, & the only office which it can is
to afford convenient and authentic notice to those about to do
what would be a violation of the privilege, and to set ‘it forth
and command due respect to it. The tendency has been not to
restrict, but to enlarge, the right of privilege so as to afford full
protection to parties and witnesses from all forms of civil
process during their attendance at court , and for a reasonable
time in going and returning.”
– Parker v. Marco 32 N.E. 989, 989 (N.Y. 1893)
Writ of Probable Cause: “See CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY.”
Writ of Procedendo: “See PROCEDENDO.”
Writ of Proclamation: “(16c) Hist. A writ, issued at the time an exigent was issued,
ordering the sheriff of the county of a defendant’s residence to make three proclamations
of outlawry in a public & notorious place a month before the outlawry is declared. See
OUTLAW.” [1]
arrestandis bonis ne dissipentur – A writ which, pending litigation, prevented an irresponsible party to the action from making away with chattels involved in the action.
arrestando ipsum qui pecuniam recepit – For arresting one who received money,-a writ for the arrest of a man who had received money for enlistment in the army and had then disappeared. [2]
Writ of Prohibition: “See PROHIBITION (2).”
Writ of Protection: “(17c.) l. A writ to protect a witness in a judicial proceeding who
is threatened with arrest. 2. A writ exempting anyone in the Crown’s service from arrest
in a civil proceeding for a year and a day.”
Writ of quare impedit: “See QUARE IMPEDIT.”
Writ of Quominus: “See QUOMINUS.”
Writ of qua warranto: “See QUO WARRANTO (1).”
Writ of Rebellion: “See COMMISSION OF REBELLION.”
Writ of Recaption: “(17c) Hist. A writ allowing a plaintiff to recover goods and
damages from a defendant who makes a second distress while a replevin action for a
previous distress is pending. See RECAPTION.”
Writ of Replevin: ”See REPLEVIN (2).”
Writ of Restitution: “( 17c.) 1. The process of enforcing a civil judgment in a
forcible-entry-and-detainer action or enforcing restitution on a verdict in a criminal
prosecution for forcible entry and detainer.
“In some states, following the British statutes, the
prosecutor may have a writ of restitution for the premises
immediately on the rendition of a verdict of guilty on an
indictment for forcible entry and detainer; and the operation of
such writ of restitution is not suspended by an appeal by the
defendant.”
– 35 Am. Jur. 2d Forcible Entry and Detainer § 61, at 931
(1967).
“2. A common-law writ issued when a judgment is reversed, whereby all that was lost
as a result of the judgment is restored to the prevailing party.”
Writ of Review: “(18c.) A general form of process issuing from an appellate court to
bring up for review the record of the proceedings in the court below; the common-law
writ of certiorari.
Writ of Right: “See WRIT OF COURSE.”
Writ of Right of Dower: “A writ for the assignment of a residue of dower, especially
one in an estate providing a widow with a remainder in the dower to which she is
entitled after part of it has been assigned by the tenant. Cf. WRIT OF DOWER.
Writ of Sequestration: “(18c.) A writ ordering that a court be given custody of
something or that something not be taken from the jurisdiction, such as the collateral for
a promissory note. Such a writ is usually issued during litigation, often so that the object
sequestered will be available for attachment or execution after judgment.”
Sequester: “n. (14c.) 1. An across-the-board cut in government spending. 2. A
person with whom litigants deposit property being contested until the case has
concluded; SEQUESTRATOR (2).”
Sequester: “vb. (15c.) 1. To separate or isolate from other people or things; to
remove or seclude. 2. To segregate or isolate (a jury or witness) during trial.
3. To separate (property) from an owner or claimant for a time; especially, to
take into judicial custody until a controversy has been decided or a claim
satisfied. 4. Civil law. To deposit (a thing) into the hands of a neutral third
party pending the determination of its ownership. 5. To take possession of for a
time, as by court order, until creditors’ claims have been duly settled. – Also
termed (esp. in sense 4) sequestrate. 6. To seize (property) by a writ of
sequestration; specifically, to seize (a defendant’s property) by judicial order
until the claims in a lawsuit have been resolved. 7. (Of a government) to
confiscate or appropriate property for the state’s use, especially enemy assets
during time of war. 8. To disclaim or renounce-(property), as a surviving spouse
might do in the settlement of the deceased spouse’s estate. 9. Hist. To remove
from office or membership, as by excommunication. 10. To engage in across-
the-board government cuts in spending. See EXCOMMUNICATION. – Also
(erroneously) termed sequestrate.”48
Writ of Summons: “(17c.) English law. A writ by which under the Judicature Acts of
18731875, all actions were commenced. See SUMMONS.”
Writ of Supersedeas: “See SUPERSEDEAS.”
Writ of Supervisory Control: (1901) A writ issued to correct an erroneous ruling
made by a lower court either when there is no right to appeal or when an appeal cannot
provide adequate relief and the ruling will result in gross injustice.”
Writ of Testatum fieri facias: “See TESTATUM (1).”
Writ of Threats: “See SECURITATE PACIS.”
Writ of Tolt: “See TOLT.”
Writ of Trespass: “See TRESPASS.”
Writ of Trespass on the Case: “See trespass an the case under TRESPASS.”
Writ of Trial: “(1833) Hist. English law. By the Civil Procedure Act of 1835, a writ
ordering an action brought in a superior court to be tried in an inferior court or before
the undersheriff. It was superseded by the County Courts Act of 1867, ch. 142, § 6
authorizing a defendant, in certain cases, to obtain an order that an action is to be tried in
a county court. St. 3 8r 4 Will. 4, ch. 42.”
Writ of venir facias: “See VENIRE FACIAS.”
Writ of Waste: “(16c.) Hist. A writ to recover damages against a tenant who
committed waste. See WASTE (1).”
“After waste had been actually committed, the ancient
corrective remedy, in a court of common law, was by a writ of
waste for the recovery of the place wasted, and treble damages as
a compensation for the injury done to the inheritance.”
– 78 Am. Jur. 2d Waste 5 29, at 417 (1975).
Writ of Withernam: “See capias in withernam under CAPIAS.”
Writ pro retorno habendo: 71. [Law Latin “for return to be had”] (1802) Hist. A writ
ordering the return of goods to a defendant who. upon the plaintiff’s default, obtained a
favorable judgment in a replevin action. See DELIVERANCE (4).”
Deliverance: “(14c.) 1. A jury’s verdict. 2. A judicial opinion or judgment.
3. A court’s order directing that a person in custody be released; especially, such
an order y an ecclesiastical court. Also termed writ of deliverance. 4. Archaic.
In a replevin (page 52) action, a writ ordering the redelivery of goods to the
owner.
Second Deliverance: (16c) Hist. A second replevin (page 52) remedy
after the plaintiff has been nonsuited & the distrained property has been‘
returned to the defendant. – Also termed Writ of second deliverance.”
“And at the common law, the plaintiff might have brought
another replevin, and so in infinitum, to the intolerable vexation
of the defendant. Wherefore the statute of Westm. 2, c. 2 restrains
the plaintiff, when nonsuited, from suing any fresh replevin, but
allows him a judicial writ issuing out of the original record, &
called a writ of second deliverance, in order to have the same
distress again delivered to him, on giving the like security as
before. And, if the plaintiff be a second time nonsuit, or if the
defendant has judgment upon verdict… he shall have a writ or
return irreplevisable; after which no writ of second deliverance
shall be allowed.”
– 3 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England
150 (1767).49
(Deliverance continued): 5. Such a release (as in sense 3) or redelivery (as in
sense 4). 6. The quality, state, or condition of being saved from harm or
danger.”50
Writ of attachment: permits the arrest of a person or the seizure of private property.
• Writ of audita querela: inhibits the unconscionable use of a lawful judgment because
of matters arising subsequent to the judgment.
• Writ of capias: directs an officer to take into custody the person named in the writ or
order51
• Writ of elegit: orders the seizure of a portion of a debtor’s lands and all his goods
(except work animals) towards satisfying a creditor, until the debt is paid off.
• Writ of error: is issued by an appellate court, and directs a lower court of record to
submit its record of the case laid for appeal.52
• Writ of exigent (or exigend): commands a sheriff to summon a defendant indicted for a
felony, who had failed to appear in court, to deliver himself up upon pain of outlawry or
forfeiture of his goods.
• Writ of fieri facias (colloquially “fi fa”): commands a sheriff to take and auction off
enough property from a losing party to pay the debt (plus interest and costs) owed by a
judgment debtor.53
• Writ of mittimus: orders either (1) a court to send its record to another or (2) a jailor to
receive the accused in his or her custody at any point during the investigative or trial
process.
• Writ of ne exeat: restrains a defendant from fleeing the country or jurisdiction.
• Writ of praemunire: instructs a sheriff to order someone to appear in court to answer
for any of a number of different crimes.
• Writ of scire facias: revives a dormant judgment.
• Writ of supersedeas: contains a command to stay the proceedings at law.54
51 “Glossary of Terms”, Shelby County Criminal Court Clerk, s.v. “capias”, retrieved 2009:
http://www.co.shelby.tn.us/court_clerks/criminal_court/glossary.html
52 “Writ and Petition History System in Texas” page 90 In Quarles, Brandon D. and Cordon, Matthew C.
(2003) Legal Research for the Texas Practitioner W.S. Hein, Buffalo, New York, ISBN 978-0-8377-3626-
6
53 “Legal Terms”, Armstrong Lawyers, retrieved on 11 June 2009:
http://www.armstronglawyers.com.au/index.php
54 “Glossary of Terms”, Colorado State Courts, retrieved on 19 June 2009:
Writ of venire facias: summons jurors to appear in court 55
(writ of) ne amittas