writ
    n 1: (law) a legal document issued by a court or judicial
         officer [syn: writ, judicial writ]

Write \Write\, v. t. [imp. Wrote; p. p. Written; Archaic
   imp. & p. p. Writ; p. pr. & vb. n. Writing.] [OE. writen,
   AS. wr[imac]tan; originally, to scratch, to score; akin to
   OS. wr[imac]tan to write, to tear, to wound, D. rijten to
   tear, to rend, G. reissen, OHG. r[imac]zan, Icel. r[imac]ta
   to write, Goth. writs a stroke, dash, letter. Cf. Race
   tribe, lineage.]
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   1. To set down, as legible characters; to form the conveyance
      of meaning; to inscribe on any material by a suitable
      instrument; as, to write the characters called letters; to
      write figures.
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   2. To set down for reading; to express in legible or
      intelligible characters; to inscribe; as, to write a deed;
      to write a bill of divorcement; hence, specifically, to
      set down in an epistle; to communicate by letter.
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            Last night she enjoined me to write some lines to
            one she loves.                        --Shak.
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            I chose to write the thing I durst not speak
            To her I loved.                       --Prior.
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   3. Hence, to compose or produce, as an author.
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            I purpose to write the history of England from the
            accession of King James the Second down to a time
            within the memory of men still living. --Macaulay.
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   4. To impress durably; to imprint; to engrave; as, truth
      written on the heart.
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   5. To make known by writing; to record; to prove by one's own
      written testimony; -- often used reflexively.
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            He who writes himself by his own inscription is like
            an ill painter, who, by writing on a shapeless
            picture which he hath drawn, is fain to tell
            passengers what shape it is, which else no man could
            imagine.                              --Milton.
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   To write to, to communicate by a written document to.

   Written laws, laws deriving their force from express
      legislative enactment, as contradistinguished from
      unwritten, or common, law. See the Note under Law, and
      Common law, under Common, a.
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Writ \Writ\, obs.
   3d pers. sing. pres. of Write, for writeth. --Chaucer.
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Writ \Writ\, archaic
   imp. & p. p. of Write. --Dryden.
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Writ \Writ\, n. [AS. writ, gewrit. See Write.]
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   1. That which is written; writing; scripture; -- applied
      especially to the Scriptures, or the books of the Old and
      New testaments; as, sacred writ. "Though in Holy Writ not
      named." --Milton.
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            Then to his hands that writ he did betake,
            Which he disclosing read, thus as the paper spake.
                                                  --Spenser.
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            Babylon, so much spoken of in Holy Writ. --Knolles.
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   2. (Law) An instrument in writing, under seal, in an
      epistolary form, issued from the proper authority,
      commanding the performance or nonperformance of some act
      by the person to whom it is directed; as, a writ of entry,
      of error, of execution, of injunction, of mandamus, of
      return, of summons, and the like.
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   Note: Writs are usually witnessed, or tested, in the name of
         the chief justice or principal judge of the court out
         of which they are issued; and those directed to a
         sheriff, or other ministerial officer, require him to
         return them on a day specified. In former English law
         and practice, writs in civil cases were either original
         or judicial; the former were issued out of the Court of
         Chancery, under the great seal, for the summoning of a
         defendant to appear, and were granted before the suit
         began and in order to begin the same; the latter were
         issued out of the court where the original was
         returned, after the suit was begun and during the
         pendency of it. Tomlins. Brande. Encyc. Brit. The term
         writ is supposed by Mr. Reeves to have been derived
         from the fact of these formulae having always been
         expressed in writing, being, in this respect,
         distinguished from the other proceedings in the ancient
         action, which were conducted orally.
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   Writ of account, Writ of capias, etc. See under
      Account, Capias, etc.

   Service of a writ. See under Service.
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WRIT, practice. A mandatory precept issued by the authority, and in the name 
of the sovereign or the state, for the purpose of compelling the defendant 
to do something therein mentioned. 
     2. It is issued by a court or other competent jurisdiction, and is 
returnable to the same. It is to be under seal and tested by the proper 
officer, and is directed to the sheriff, or other officer lawfully 
authorized to execute the same. Writs are divided into, 1. Original. 2. Of 
mesne process. 3. Of execution. Vide 3 Bl. Com. 273; 1 Tidd, Pr. 93; Gould 
on Pl. c. 2, s. 1. There are several kinds of writs, some of which are 
mentioned below. 

WRIT, ORIGINAL, practice, English law. An original writ is a mandatory 
letter issuing out of the court of chancery under the great seal and in a 
king's name, directed to the sheriff of the county where the injury is 
alleged to have been committed, containing a summary statement of the cause 
of complaint, and requiring him in most cases, to command the defendant to 
satisfy the claim; and, on his failure to comply, then to summon him to 
appear in one of the superior courts of common law, there to account for his 
non-compliance. In some cases, however, it omits the former alternative, and 
requires the sheriff simply to enforce the appearance. Steph. Pl. 5.