the.com/writ
A judge's permission slip that makes the government do something, immediately.
means A formal written order from a court or other legal authority commanding someone to do something or stop doing something.
from From Old English 'writ,' meaning something written — tied directly to the verb 'writan,' to write (originally to scratch or carve marks). In early law, writs literally were short written commands sealed by a king or court, dispatched as an instruction to act. The sense narrowed over centuries from 'a piece of writing' generally to this one specific, muscular species of writing: the kind that legally compels.
- origin
- Old English for written command
- habeas corpus
- the most famous writ, literally produce the body
- modern use
- courts still issue them to override officials
- phrase survivor
- gave us large and small writ phrases