different between writ vs mittimus

English

Etymology

From Middle English writ, iwrit, ?ewrit, from Old English writ (“letter, book, treatise; scripture, writing; writ, charter, document, deed”) and ?ewrit (“writing, something written, written language; written character, bookstave; inscription; orthography; written statement, passage from a book; official or formal document, document; law, jurisprudence; regulation; list, catalog; letter; text of an agreement; writ, charter, deed; literary writing, book, treatise; books dealing with a subject under notice; a book of the Bible; scripture, canonical book, the Scriptures; stylus”), from Proto-Germanic *writ? (“fissure, writing”), from Proto-Indo-European *wrey-, *wr?- (“to scratch, carve, ingrave”). Cognate with Scots writ (“writ, writing, handwriting”), Icelandic rit (“writing, writ, literary work, publication”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

writ (countable and uncountable, plural writs)

1. (law) A written order, issued by a court, ordering someone to do (or stop doing) something.
2. Authority, power to enforce compliance.

   • We can't let them take advantage of the fact that there are so many areas of the world where no one's writ runs.

   • 1913, Elizabeth Kimball Kendall, A Wayfarer in China

     Within Lololand, of course, no Chinese writ runs, no Chinese magistrate holds sway, and the people, more or less divided among themselves, are under the government of their tribal chiefs.

3. (archaic) That which is written; writing.
   • Babylon, so much spoken of in Holy Writ

Synonyms

• claim form (English law)

Derived terms

• drop the writ
• handwrit
• Holy Writ
• writ of habeas corpus

Translations

References

• Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

Verb

writ

1. (archaic) past tense of write
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II scene iv^[2]:

     I know the hand: in faith, 'tis a fair hand;

     And whiter than the paper it writ on

     Is the fair hand that writ.

2. (archaic) past participle of write
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II scene iv^[3]:

     I know the hand: in faith, 'tis a fair hand;

     And whiter than the paper it writ on

     Is the fair hand that writ.

   • 1682, John Dryden, Mac Klecknoe

     Let Virtuosos in five years be writ; / Yet not one thought accuse thy toil of wit. (Mac Flecknoe)

   • 1859, Omar Khayyam, Edward Fitzgerlad (translattor), Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

     The moving finger writes, and having writ, not all your piety or wit can lure it back to cancel half a line […]

   • 1821, John Keats

     Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water.

Usage notes

• The form writ survives in standard dialects in the phrase writ large as well as in works aiming for an intentionally poetic or archaic style. It remains common in some dialects (e.g. Scouse).

Derived terms

• writ large
• writ small

Anagrams

• ITRW, Wirt

Gothic

Romanization

writ

1. Romanization of ????????????????

Old English

Alternative forms

• ?ewrit

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *writ?, whence also Old High German riz, Old Norse rit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /writ/

Noun

writ n (nominative plural writu)

1. writ

Declension

Derived terms

• ?ewrit

English

Etymology

From Latin mittimus (the opening word of such a document), first-person plural of mitt? (“send”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?m?t?m?s/

Noun

mittimus (plural mittimuses or mittimi)

1. (law, archaic outside the US) A warrant issued for someone to be taken into custody.
2. A writ for moving records from one court to another.
   • 2013, Mark Morgenstein, Suspect in prisons chief's death may have been freed 4 years early, CNN (March 31, 2013), [1]:

     Next, sometimes the same clerk, but often a second clerk, who may not have been in the courtroom, types up the mittimus, the formal court order that directs corrections offers^[sic] to commit someone to prison, and something could get lost in translation there.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Brande & C to this entry?)

3. A formal dismissal from a situation.

Latin

Verb

mittimus

1. first-person plural present active indicative of mitt?