Editing Writ (section)

{{Short description|Formal written order issued by an entity}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Writ 1702.jpg|thumb|A writ of attachment.]]

In [[common law]], a '''writ'''<ref>([[Old English|Anglo-Saxon]] ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'')</ref> is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial [[jurisdiction]]; in modern usage, this body is generally a [[court]]. [[Warrant (legal)|Warrants]], [[prerogative writ]]s, [[subpoena]]s, and ''[[certiorari]]'' are common types of writs, but many forms exist and have existed.<ref name="Dictionary of British History">{{cite book |last1=Steinberg |first1=S.H. |last2=Evans |first2=I.H. |title=Steinberg's Dictionary of British History |date=1970 |publisher=[[Hodder & Stoughton]] Educational |location=London |isbn=9780713157567 |page=402 |edition=2 |url=https://www.abebooks.com/9780713157567/Dictionary-British-History-Steinberg-Evans-0713157569/plp |access-date=9 April 2025}}</ref>

In its earliest form, a writ was simply a written order made by the English monarch to a specified person to undertake a specified action; for example, in the [[Feudalism in England|feudal era]], a military summons by the king to one of his [[tenant-in-chief|tenants-in-chief]] to appear dressed for battle with [[retinue]] at a specific place and time.<ref name="Parliament Writs">{{cite book |author1=[[Francis Palgrave]] |title=Parliamentary Writs and Writs of Military Summons |date=1827 |publisher=Retrospective Review & Cosmo Books |location=Shropshire, United Kingdom |url=https://www.abebooks.com/1827-Parliamentary-Writs-Military-Summons-etc.up/31181258358/bd |access-date=9 April 2025}}</ref> An early usage survives in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia in a [[writ of election]], which is a written order issued on behalf of the monarch (in Canada, by the [[Governor General of Canada|Governor General]] and, in Australia, by the [[Governor-General of Australia|Governor-General]] for elections for the House of Representatives, or state governors for state elections) to local officials ([[High sheriff]]s of every county in the United Kingdom) to hold a [[general election]]. Writs were used by the medieval English kings to summon people to [[Parliament of England|Parliament]]<ref name="Community of Realm">{{cite book |last1=Wickson |first1=Roger |title=The Community of the Realm in 13th Century England |date=1970 |publisher=[[Prentice Hall|Prentice Hall Press]] |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |isbn=9780582314016 |page=66 |url=https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780582314016/Community-Realm-Thirteenth-Century-England-0582314011/plp |access-date=9 April 2025 |language=English}}</ref> (then consisting primarily of the [[House of Lords]]) whose advice was considered valuable or who were particularly influential, and who were thereby deemed to have been created "[[Hereditary peer|barons by writ]]".