WRIT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does writ mean? 

• WRIT (noun)
  The noun WRIT has 1 sense:

1. (law) a legal document issued by a court or judicial officer

  Familiarity information: WRIT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WRIT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(law) a legal document issued by a court or judicial officer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

judicial writ; writ

Hypernyms ("writ" is a kind of...):

instrument; legal document; legal instrument; official document ((law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "writ"):

scire facias (a judicial writ based on some record and requiring the party against whom it is brought to show cause why the record should not be enforced or annulled)

subpoena duces tecum (a writ issued by a court at the request of one of the parties to a suit; it requires a witness to bring to court or to a deposition any relevant documents under the witness's control)

subpoena; subpoena ad testificandum (a writ issued by court authority to compel the attendance of a witness at a judicial proceeding; disobedience may be punishable as a contempt of court)

process; summons (a writ issued by authority of law; usually compels the defendant's attendance in a civil suit; failure to appear results in a default judgment against the defendant)

writ of right (a writ ordering that land be restored to its rightful owner)

writ of prohibition (a judicial writ from a higher court ordering a lower court not to exercise jurisdiction in a particular case)

writ of error (a judicial writ from an appellate court ordering the court of record to produce the records of trial)

writ of election (a writ ordering the holding of an election)

writ of detinue (a writ ordering the release of goods that have been unlawfully detained)

sequestration (a writ that authorizes the seizure of property)

court order (a writ issued by a court of law requiring a person to do something or to refrain from doing something)

fieri facias (a writ ordering a levy on the belongings of a debtor to satisfy the debt)

attachment (a writ authorizing the seizure of property that may be needed for the payment of a judgment in a judicial proceeding)

mandamus; writ of mandamus (an extraordinary writ commanding an official to perform a ministerial act that the law recognizes as an absolute duty and not a matter for the official's discretion; used only when all other judicial remedies fail)

venire facias (a judicial writ ordering a sheriff to summon people for jury duty)

habeas corpus; writ of habeas corpus (a writ ordering a prisoner to be brought before a judge)

certiorari; writ of certiorari (a common law writ issued by a superior court to one of inferior jurisdiction demanding the record of a particular case)

assize (an ancient writ issued by a court of assize to the sheriff for the recovery of property)

warrant (a writ from a court commanding police to perform specified acts)

 Context examples 

“Well, now, walk up to it, and let us hear what is writ beneath it.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To help my memory, I formed all I learned into the English alphabet, and writ the words down, with the translations.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ served upon me for £ 25.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mas'r Davy, he said, when we had shaken hands, I giv Em'ly your letter, sir, and she writ this heer; and begged of me fur to ask you to read it, and if you see no hurt in't, to be so kind as take charge on't.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

So I writ a letter while I was out, and put it in the post-office, telling of 'em how all was as 'tis; and that I should come down tomorrow to unload my mind of what little needs a-doing of down theer, and, most-like, take my farewell leave of Yarmouth.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

At the present moment I lie abed (having stayed late in order to pay a compliment to the Marchioness of Dover at her ball last night), and this is writ to my dictation by Ambrose, my clever rascal of a valet.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The idea of those Devonshire girls, among the dry law-stationers and the attorneys' offices; and of the tea and toast, and children's songs, in that grim atmosphere of pounce and parchment, red-tape, dusty wafers, ink-jars, brief and draft paper, law reports, writs, declarations, and bills of costs; seemed almost as pleasantly fanciful as if I had dreamed that the Sultan's famous family had been admitted on the roll of attorneys, and had brought the talking bird, the singing tree, and the golden water into Gray's Inn Hall.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Another writ has been issued (in His Majesty's High Court of King's Bench at Westminster), in another cause of HEEP V. MICAWBER, and the defendant in that cause is the prey of the sheriff having legal jurisdiction in this bailiwick.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)