Besides the writ commencing an action, there are others which facilitate it, or give effect to its result. Attendance of witnesses is secured by the writ of subpoena. Redress for contempt of court may be effected by writ of attachment. The writs employed for the execution of judgment against an unsuccessful defendant are fieri facias against his goods, elegit against his lands, possession for the recovery of land adjudged to be the plaintiff's, and de livery or pttachment, or sequestration for the recovery of any property other than land or money. The writ of attachment also applies where a judgment directs the performance of any specific act other than the payment of money, e.g., the removal of a nuisance, or requires anyone to abstain from doing a thing; and the writ of sequestration also extends to cases in which a person wilfully disobeys an order or judgment which directs him to pay money into court or to do any other act within a limited time; the writ enables his property to be seized.
The prerogative writs deserve special notice both for their his torical interest and their practical utility. They are extraordinary remedies issued upon cause shown in circumstances where the ordinary legal remedies are inapplicable or inadequate. The most important of those now in use are certiorari, habeas corpus, mandamus, procedendo, and prohibition. They usually issue from the Crown office side of the central office of the Supreme Court, and, in general, they are not obtainable as a matter of course. Some probable cause must be shown why such extraor dinary remedies should be invoked. A rule nisi is issued in the first instance by the court calling upon the party to whom the writ is addressed to show cause why he should not comply with the writ. If he shows sufficient cause, the rule is discharged, otherwise it is made absolute and the party must obey the writ. But in urgent cases, the rule may be made absolute from the first in some of the writs, e.g., habeas corpus. The writ of certiorari proceeds from a superior court and directs an inferior court, whether civil or criminal, to transmit to the superior court the record of proceedings pending before the inferior court, in order to ensure speedier and better justice to the applicant for the writ. Its object is to give relief against inconvenience arising from the likelihood that the lower court will not dispose of the case as effectually as will the superior. The procedure by this writ must be distinguished from appeals by dissatisfied litigants. These come after judgment, whereas certiorari generally deals with cases still pending and, even where it is used for the purpose of getting a conviction quashed, it does not enable the superior court to review the case on its merits, but to deal with some matter like lack of jurisdiction. There are several writs of habeas corpus,
but the best known variety is the habeas corpus ad subiiciendum, which provides for the personal freedom of the subject. (See HABEAS CORPUS.) Mandamus directs a person, a corporation, or an inferior court of judicature, within the king's dominions, to do some particular thing which appertains to the office or duty df any of them. (See MANDAMUS.) The writ of procedendo is a possible sequel to certiorari, for it applies where the superior court considers it expedient or necessary to restore the record to the inferior court whose proceedings are in question. The writ commands the lower court to proceed with the case. The writ of prohibition forbids an ecclesiastical or inferior temporal court to continue proceedings therein in excess of its jurisdiction or in contravention of the laws of the land. (See PROHIBITION.) An other prerogative writ has taken the place of the writ de excom municato capiendo; this is de contumace capiendo for compelling persons duly cited to appear in the ecclesiastical courts and for enforcing compliance with their orders and punishing contempts in the face of such courts. As to writs relating to the assembly of parliament, the king, on the advice of the Privy Council, issues a proclamation expressing the royal pleasure to call a new parlia ment and announcing an Order in Council to the lord chancellor to issue the necessary writs on the authority of the proclamation. In practice, the clerk of the Crown in Chancery does not receive direct authority from the chancellor for the issue of the writs, but regards the proclamation itself as sufficient for that purpose. Parliament must meet at any time not less than 20 clear days after the proclamation. Individual writs of summons are sent to those who are entitled to sit in the House of Lords; but for the election of members to the House of Commons the writs are sent to the returning officers of the various constituencies. The writs of summons issued to peers of the United Kingdom are of historical note, for adjudication of disputed peerage claims has often centred in the validity or scope of the writ. Even now, though such a peerage is invariably created by letters patent, these are accompanied by a writ of summons, and it rests with the committee for privileges of the House of Lords to decide whether the writ is valid, or indeed whether it can be issued at all; a familiar recent instance was their refusal to issue the writ to a peeress in her own right (Viscountess Rhondda's Claim, Law Reports [1922] 2 Appeal Cases, 339).