CERTIORARI, (Lat., to be certified, from rertior, comparative of certus. sure). A common-la W writ, issued by a superior court to an inferior one, or to a body acting in a quasi-judicial capacity, as commissioners, magistrates, assessors of taxes, etc. The writ, issues only when there is no other adequate rem edy, and it is used in both criminal and civil cases. It requires the record of a proceeding in the inferior court or before the quasi-judicial body to he certified by that court or body and returned to the court issuing the writ for the purpose either of reviewing the same or of re moving the action or proceeding to the higher court for trial. When certiorari is used as a of review. questions of law. rather than those of fact. ;ire involved, determining whether the inferior court hail jurisdiction or proceeded in accordanee with law. For example. if a board of assessors of faxes should decide that the prop erty of a bank invested in 'United States bonds could be taxed under the authority of the State. they would decide a question of law which might. by means of a writ of certiorari, bo re opened before superior tribunals, and ultimately before the Supreme Court of the 'United States. It wInild not. however. raise any question of fact or confer upon the superior court any ministerial vested in the board of assessors of taxes. The writ is granted or refused at the discretion of the superior court. and the usual result is that the prt•eedings below are either affirmed or set aside. In court: of equity a similar use is made of certiorari, which may be granted on application by original bill under the 'Evarts Act' of March 3, 1891. Certain decisions of the Circuit Court of Appeals may be reviewed by the United States Supreme Court by certiorari.
In England, certiorari issues in civil cases out of the chancery division of the High Court of Justice, and in criminal cases front the King's Bench division of the same court. It is now
ehielly used in the latter division, and is the usual 111(Kle of correcting exeesses of justices of the peace in miscellaneous matters. ling., Treatise on Extraordinary Relief in Equity and of Law ( Boston. 1901): Wood, Twyttise on the Legal Remedies of Ilandantus find cue. (3d ed., Albany, 1896). CERTOSA, eller-WA (It.). A monastery of the order of Carthusians (q.v.), whence the Italian name is derived. The most famous is the Certosa di Pavia in Lombardy, one of the most complete and beautiful of Italian art, erected with the co6peration of several gen erations of the greatest Lombard artists. It was founded in 1396 by (ban thileazzo Visconti, and begun in the same late Gothic style as the cathedral of :Milan, but before the nave had been completed in this style, the influence of the early Renaissance had become supreme, and the choir and transept, as well as the beautiful cloisters, were executed in the new style. with rich and artistic details in terra-cotta, as was also the faeade, begun in its present form in 149I. This is the masterpiece among Renaissance facades, not only for the richness and perfection of its sculptures, but for the harmony of its design. The interior of the church is a Latin cross (249 X 173 feet), with eight heavy piers, four teen chapels, apsidal transepts, and a dome over the intersection. lt is a museum of Renaissance sculpture and painting. most of the latter the work of Iltirgognone, including the designs for the choir-stalls. The sepulchral monument of the [sunder is mainly by Cristofttro Romano. The most famous sculptors who worked on the cloisters and faeade were the brothers Allude gazza. Amadro, ]Fusion (Fifteenth Century), Brio-eo, Giacomo della Porta, Busti. and Solari (Sixteenth Century). This monument was the practical school at which the Lombard school of sculpture developed throughout its golden age.