Certiorari

I. (To be made more certain, to be informed.) A writ issuing from a superior court to an inferior, before verdict, requesting the latter to send up the proceedings or record for review or trial. It was an original writ issuing from Chancery or the K. B. in civil or criminal cases. It was also auxiliary to a writ of error. It lies, in the U. S., to courts not of record, or tribunals proceeding not according to the common law; and after judgment. A bill of certiorari was a bill in chancery, praying relief, and the removal into chancery of a suit in an inferior court of equity, for reason of incompetency or hardship. Certum est quod certum reddi potest, I. That which can be made certain is certain.