writ, in law, written order issued in the name of the sovereign or the state in connection with a judicial or an administrative proceeding. Usually the writ requires the person to whom the command is issued to report at a fixed time (the return day) with proof of compliance or a justification for disobedience. Apparently the exchequer was the first royal office in England to issue writs in transacting its business. The common-law courts, which administered justice for the king, found their required authorization to take a case in the original writ issued out of the chancery. The original writ (or original process) was essentially an order to the defendant to satisfy the plaintiff's demand or stand trial. Orders issued in the course of the trial (e.g., to produce a witness) were writs of mesne (middle) process. At the end of the case the successful plaintiff would be awarded a writ of execution (a type of final process) to carry the judgment into effect. The original writs were extremely limited in number. The Statute of Westminster (1285), which permitted the chancery to vary the terms of the existent writs slightly but forbade the issuance of new writs, in time worked great hardships. However, the principle, "no writ, no right" was at least partially overcome by the development of equity as a separate system of justice. By the 18th cent. the use of original writs fell into disuse and cases were initiated by service of a summons. Several of the prerogative writs (writs issued as a matter of sovereign right) still survive, notably habeas corpus and mandamus. The term writ usually is not applied to other types of compulsory process in current use.

General search warrant used by the British in the American colonies. The warrants authorized customhouse officers, with the assistance of a sheriff, to search any house or ship for smuggled goods, without requiring them to specify the place or the goods. The legality of the writs was challenged by the colonists in the 1760s, and they became a major grievance in the years leading up to the American Revolution. Seealso James Otis.

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In common law, an order issued in the name of a sovereign or court commanding a person to perform or refrain from performing a specified act. It was a vital official instrument in Old English law. A plaintiff would commence a suit 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. Writs were also constantly in use for financial and political purposes of government. Though the writ no longer governs civil pleading and has lost many of its applications, the extraordinary writs, especially of habeas corpus, mandamus (commanding the performance of a ministerial act), prohibition (commanding an inferior court to stay within its jurisdiction), and certiorari, reflect its historical importance as an instrument of judicial authority.

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