\Writ\, obs.
3d pers. sing. pres. of {Write}, for writeth. --Chaucer.

\Writ\, archaic
imp. & p. p. of {Write}. --Dryden.

\Writ\, n. [AS. writ, gewrit. See {Write}.]
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.
         Then to his hands that writ he did betake, Which he
         disclosing read, thus as the paper spake. --Spenser.
         Babylon, so much spoken of in Holy Writ. --Knolles.
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.
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 formul[ae] having always been
      expressed in writing, being, in this respect,
      distinguished from the other proceedings in the ancient
      action, which were conducted orally.
{Writ of account}, {Writ of capias}, etc. See under
   {Account}, {Capias}, etc.
{Service of a writ}. See under {Service}.