QUO WARRANTO (Lat., by what warrant). A legal action or proceeding brought to deter mine the right of an individual or corporation to a public office, franchise, or privilege, and to have a usurper removed by order of a court of com petent jurisdiction. This remedy is said to have originated in the twelfth century in England, and was originally commenced by a writ of qub warranto in the name of the Crown, and com manding the alleged usurper to show 'by what warrant' he claimed the right or privilege in question. The inquiry was made by a royal commission, and the person named in the writ was often deprived of the rights he claimed with out judicial proceedings. To remedy this a statute was enacted in the reign of Edward I. requiring that such eases should be tried by the action of quo warranto. This was begun by an 'information in the nature of a quo warranto' being filed by a public prosecutor on behalf of the Crown. By a statute in the reign of Anne, private individuals were permitted, on obtaining leave from a court, to file these 'informations.' In most of the United States such proceedings are brought in the name of the Attorney-General of the State in his official capacity, or in his name 'on relation of a private individual. These proceedings can only be brought in the highest courts of original jurisdiction or appellate courts. In most States quo warranto proceedings may he brought against persons wrongfully claiming to occupy public offices; against the officers of private corporations where the latter assume unlawful privileges and powers: against the ollicers of public or municipal corporations, where franchises are unlawfully exercised by them; or against any person unlawfully claiming and exercising control over a public franchise or privilege such as a ferry franchise or bank ing privileges. The right of a foreign corpora tion to do business in a State may be questioned in this manner. Defeated candidates sometimes cause an investigation into the election returns and the rights of their successful opponents by quo warranto proceedings, but many States have provided special statutory proceedings for de termining contested elections. A quo warranto proceeding can only be brought to try a right or eligibility to an office, and not to remove a law ful incumbent for official misconduct. The stat utes of the various States should be consulted for the details of procedure. Consult also: High, Treatise on Extraordinary Legal Remedies (3d ed., Chicago, 1396) ; Spelling, a Treatise on Ex traordinary Relief (2d ed., Boston, 1901).
eighteenth letter of the English alphabet. It is the Latin form of the Greek rho, which corresponded to the Semitic resh, meaning 'head,' the letter rudely representing a face in profile. The development of the form of the letter was as follows: The tag was added to the r in Latin in order to distinguish it from the sign for p (q.v.) when
that letter assumed its present form.
In phonetic value r may be either consonantal or vocalic, and in Sanskrit this distinction was denoted by different symbols. R is a consonant only when it immediately precedes a vowel, as rill, rain, crack. As a consonant it is a con tinuous spirant, voiced or voiceless, and is sounded by placing the tip of the tongue loosely against the sockets of the upper front teeth and causing it to vibrate with strong breath. Initial English r is pronounced thus in such words as ring, ribbon. The vibration, however, is very slight, and the sound produced is a comparatively smooth one. Before back vowels the tip of the tongue is turned upward and back against the palate, as in rush, roar. Both these r's are un trilled. Trilled r, infrequently heard in Eng lish pronunciation, is produced by the vibra tions of the uvula. After vowels r is often sounded as the obscure vowel .) (= r in sofa), care, hire, four. In some words r has become so weakened as to be silent or to result only in lengthening the preceding vowel, as in far, world, fern. 1? influences the preceding vowels, making them more open. as in ail, air: old, ore; pool, poor. Here the sounds are widened to coalesce with the open quality of the glide r. This glide sound lies between the consonant and vocalic values, as ear (glide ) , but earache (consonant) . English r in red is the medium alveolar sound, but after t in try. and, to a less degree, after d in dry. the opening is so restricted that the sound is distinctly buzzed. R may he voiceless in com bination with other voiceless letters, as pride, bride.
R represents an original Indo-Germanic r, as Skt. rudhira, Gk. ipu6p6s, Lat. ruber. Eng. red; Skt. dear, Gk. Oipa, Lat. forts, door. It may also represent a Germanic z (ludo-Germanic sl, which became r by the operation of Verner's law (q.v.). It is closely related to 1 (q.v.), with which it frequently interchanges, as in Sanskrit rabh and labh, to seize, especially as a result of dissimilation, as Greek Ke0aXaXyla, beside Keg5aXap-yla, 'headache,' Latin turtur, English tur tle dove. The Greeks had two types of r, (rough breathing) and ,d (soft breathing). The Romans transliterated the former (spiritus as per) by rh, whence the rh in words from the Greek, through the Latin, as rheumatism, rhet oric. Words derived directly from the Greek. if recently acquired, usually disregard this Latin spelling, as raphe.
As a mediaeval Roman numeral R = 80. R. = S0,000. R. A. = Royal Academy, Royal Arch, Royal R. M., Royal Marines; R. N., Royal Navy: R. C., Roman Catholic.
In prescriptions Bc (recipe) = take.
RA, Ili. An Egyptian deity. See Rt.