writ of error

A writ commissioning an appellate court to review the proceedings of another court and correct the judgment given if deemed necessary.

In some states, procedural method by which appeals in civil matters are brought before an appellate court for review for possible reversal.

At common law, a writ of error lay from an appellate to an inferior court, commanding the latter to send up the record of a case for review of alleged errors of law (not of fact). Review was limited to errors that appeared on the face of the record. The writ of error figured prominently in Supreme Court jurisdiction until the twentieth century, having been established in section 25 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 as the procedural vehicle for review of state court decisions involving federal questions. The functions of the writ of error were transferred to certiorari and appeal by federal legislation of 1916 and 1928, respectively, and the writ is obsolete in federal practice today.

See also Appellate Jurisdiction.

— William M. Wiecek

An early common law writ issued out of "the appellate court and served on the trial judge ordering him to send up the record in the case. The one who sought the review, whether the plaintiff or defendant in the trial court, [is] designated as the ‘plaintiff in error.' His opponent [is] the ‘defendant in error.' . . . The only function of the appellate court [is] to review alleged errors of law. . . ." Green, Basic Civil Procedure 254 (2d ed. 1979). It is similar to a writ of certiorari, but a writ of error, unlike a writ of certiorari, is a writ of right and lies only where jurisdiction is exercised according to the course of the common law. See 29 N.E. 43, 45; and 67 Me. 429, 433.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a judicial writ from an appellate court ordering the court of record to produce the records of trial