Writ

In English 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 writ but innumerable forms exist, as listed in Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs (1827, 1834). 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 feudal era a military summons by the king to one of his tenants-in-chief to appear dressed for battle with retinue at a certain place and time. An early usage survives in the United Kingdom and Canada in a writ of election, which is a written order issued on behalf of the monarch (in Canada, the Governor General) to local officials (High Sheriffs of every county in the historical UK) to hold a general election. Writs were used by the medieval English kings to summon persons to Parliament (then consisting of the House of Lords alone) whose advice was considered valuable or who were particularly influential, who were thereby deemed to have been created "barons by writ".