City of Brantford, A Historical Study of the Applicability of Ontario Provincial Legislation.
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Prerogative Writs, UK Statutes Reference Directory
As is well known, the breve, or "writ," was originally a short written command issued by a person in authority, and "tested" or sealed by him in proof of its genuineness. In the days when writing was a rare art, the fact that a command was written was in itself a feature which distinguished a "writ" from a mere hasty spoken command, the receipt of which, or its terms, could be denied or questioned. By a process familiar in other branches of social economy-coinage, measures of weight and distance, the maintenance of "the peace," the organization of offices, and the like-the King's writ, soon after the Norman Conquest and the establishment of a strong, centralized mon- archy, swallowed up, as it were, all the rival and inferior writs; and when people spoke of a "writ" they soon thought exclusively of the King's writ, just as a "shilling" came to mean exclusively a King's shilling, and a "chancellor" or "judge" (though other authorities had chancellors and judges) meant, unless the contrary was stated, the King's Chancellor, or one of his judges. THE PREROGATIVE WRITS IN ENGLISH LAW EDWARD JENKS, D.C.L. APRIL, 1923
As an ecclesiastical instrument always issued from the cancellocum (chancery), a writ by its very name and nature from its origin is an absolute and precise instrument that must conform to the strictest standards to be considered valid. Therefore, from its inception under the Carolingians in the 8th Century, a writ is only valid if it possesses the following attributes:
(i) An associated memorandum of petition or simply “memorandum” signed and witnessed by at least three other parties; and
(ii) The insignio of the inventor or scriptor issuing the writ meaning their distinguishing mark, seal, badge, decoration or name; and
(iii) The obsignio of the official authorizing the writ being their official seal; and
(iv) The testabus of the obsignio meaning a sentence or phrase as a testification or attestation, usually at the bottom of a document that it has been duly authorized; and
(v) The imprimo being the distinguishing mark, seal, decoration or watermark of the cancellocum (publishing location) from which the writ was issued.
Since the creation of the concept of a writ in the 8th Century by the Carolingians, Holy Writs have been the means by people were called (summonsed) to official meetings such as parlomentum (parliament) as well as the commencement of all valid legal proceedings, as demonstrated by the two (2) legal maxims that underpin Sacred Law and the foundation of Western Law and Catholic Law:
(i) Valida rit dat genuit ad actionem meaning "a legitimate writ gives birth to legal action"; and
(ii) Nulli rit est non actio meaning "when no writ exists, no right of action exists (in law)"
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City of Brantford Legal Study
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