Writ

In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs and subpoenas are common types of writs but there are many others.

Famous quotes containing the word writ:

“We cannot learn the cipher
That’s writ upon our cell;
Stars help us by a mystery
Which we could never spell.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

“If you have writ your annals true, ‘tis there
That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I
Fluttered your Volscians in Corioles.
Alone I did it.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

“I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And ‘Thou shalt not’ writ over the door;”
—William Blake (1757–1827)