Certiorari (pronunciation: sər-sh(ē-)ə-ˈrer-ē, -ˈrär-ē, -ˈra-rē) is a legal term in Roman, English and American law referring to a type of writ seeking judicial review. Certiorari ("to be searched") is the present passive infinitive of Latin certioro, a contraction of certiorem facere ("to search", lit. "to make certain"). Certioro was a highly technical term appearing only in jurisprudential Latin, most frequently in the works of Ulpian, who favored it over the facere form. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Using the term Roman law in a broader sense, one may say that Roman law is not only the legal system of ancient Rome but the law that was applied throughout most of Europe until the end of the 18th century. ... English law is a formal term of art that describes the law for the time being in force in England and Wales. ... In law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction. ... Judicial review is the power of a court to review the actions of public sector bodies in terms of their legality or constitutionality. ... For referencing in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Citing sources. ... In grammar, voice is the relationship between the action or state expressed by a verb, and its arguments (subject, object, etc. ... In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. ... For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). ... Domitius Ulpianus, Anglicized as Ulpian, (died 228) was a Roman jurist of Tyrian ancestry. ...

Roman law

In Roman law, an action of certiorari was suggested in terms of reviewing a case—much as the term is applied today—although the term was also used in writing to indicate the need or duty to inform other parties of a court's ruling. The term "certiorari" is often found in Roman literature on law but applied in a philosophical rather than tangible manner when concerning the action of review of a case or aspects of a case. Basically it grants that the case will be heard, and that there is enough evidence it seems to carry on. Using the term Roman law in a broader sense, one may say that Roman law is not only the legal system of ancient Rome but the law that was applied throughout most of Europe until the end of the 18th century. ...

English law

In English law, certiorari is a public law relief (i.e. something for which you ask the court in order to deal with an action of the Government, council or other (quasi-)governmental organization). See judicial review and writ. An order of certiorari is given by a senior court to quash a decision of a lower court or other (quasi-)governmental organization. The use of certiorari in the UK is declining, due to the changes to the remedies available for judicial review.^{[citation needed]} English law is a formal term of art that describes the law for the time being in force in England and Wales. ... In the art of sculpture, a relief is an artwork where a modelled form projects out of a flat background. ... Judicial review is the power of a court to review the actions of public sector bodies in terms of their legality or constitutionality. ... In law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction. ...

Historically, certiorari was a prerogative writ used to direct a lower court or tribunal to certify for review the "record" in the case. In English law, the prerogative writs are a class of writs originally available only to the Crown, but which were later made available to the kings subjects through the courts. ...

After the 1999 Woolf Reforms it is more commonly known as a quashing order. The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR) are the rules of Court governing civil cases in the Court of Appeal, High Court and County Court in England and Wales. ...

Australian Law

Certiorari is available as an incidental remedy to the remedies of mandamus, prohibition or injunction in the High Court of Australia due to the effect of s75(v) of the Australian Constitution. A writ of mandamus or simply mandamus, which means we order in Latin, is the name of one of the prerogative writs and is a court order directing someone, most frequently a government official, to perform a specified act. ... A writ of prohibition, in the United States, is an official legal document drafted and issued by a supreme court or superior court to a judge presiding over a suit in an inferior court. ... Look up Injunction in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Judicial High Court Lower Courts Constitution State and territory governments Executive Governors and Administrators Premiers and Chief Ministers Legislative Parliaments and Assemblies State electoral systems ACT - NSW - NT - Qld. ...

United States Law

Federal courts

In the United States, certiorari is the writ that an appellate court issues to a lower court in order to review its judgment for legal error and review, where no appeal is available as a matter of right. Since the Judiciary Act of 1925, most cases cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court as a matter of right; therefore, a party who wants that court to review a decision of a federal or state court files a "petition for writ of certiorari" in the Supreme Court. If the court grants the petition (see Procedures of the Supreme Court of the United States), the case is scheduled for the filing of briefs and for oral argument. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Appeal. ... The Judiciary Act of 1925 (43 Stat. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  US Government Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the... The Supreme Court of the United States is the only court specifically established by the Constitution of the United States, implemented in 1789. ...

Four of the nine judges must vote to grant a writ of certiorari. This is called the "rule of four." The great majority of cases brought to the Supreme Court are denied certiorari (approximately 7,500 petitions are presented each year; between 80 and 150 are granted), because the Supreme Court is generally careful to choose only cases in which it has jurisdiction and which it considers sufficiently important to merit the use of its limited resources. See also Cert pool. The rule of four is a United States Supreme Court rule that requires four votes out of the nine justices to grant a writ of certiorari. ... The Cert pool is a mechanism by which the Supreme Court of the United States manages the influx of petitions for certiorari to the Court. ...

The granting of a writ does not necessarily mean the Supreme Court has found anything wrong with the decision of the lower court. Granting a writ of certiorari means merely that four judges feel the circumstances described in the petition are sufficient to warrant the full Court making a review of the case and of the lower court's action. Conversely, the legal effect of the Supreme Court's denial of a petition for a writ of certiorari is commonly misunderstood as meaning that the Supreme Court approves the decision of a lower court. However, such a denial "imports no expression of opinion upon the merits of the case, as the bar has been told many times." Missouri v. Jenkins, 515 U.S. 70 (1995). In particular, denial of certiorari means that no binding precedent is created, and that the lower court decision is authoritative only within its area of jurisdiction. Holding Federal courts have the power to order taxation by state authorities. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... In law, a binding precedent (also mandatory precedent or binding authority) is a precedent which must be followed by all lower courts. ...

Certiorari is sometimes informally referred to as cert, and cases warranting the Supreme Court's attention as certworthy. One situation where the Supreme Court sometimes grants certiorari is when the federal appeals courts in two (or more) federal judicial circuits have ruled different ways in similar situations, and the Supreme Court wants to resolve that "circuit split" about how the law is supposed to apply to that kind of situation. Issues of this type are often called "percolating issues." The United States courts of appeals (or circuit courts) are the mid-level appellate courts of the United States federal court system. ... Congress has divided the United States into a number of judicial circuits, each of which includes several District Courts and a Court of Appeals to decide appeals from cases decided in the district courts within the circuit. ...

State courts

Some U.S. state court systems use the same terminology, but in others, writ of review, leave to appeal, or certification for appeal is used in place of writ of certiorari as the name for discretionary review of a lower court's judgment. A handful of states lack intermediate appellate courts; their supreme courts operate under a mandatory review regime, in which the supreme court must take all appeals in order to preserve the loser's traditional right to one appeal. However, mandatory review remains in place, in all states where the death penalty exists; in those states, a sentence of death is automatically appealed to the state's highest court. Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  US Government Portal      A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ...

Administrative law

In the administrative law context, the common-law writ of certiorari was historically used by lower courts in the U.S. for judicial review of decisions made by an administrative agency after an adversarial hearing. Some states have retained this use of the writ of certiorari in state courts, while others have replaced it with statutory procedures. In the federal courts, this use of certiorari has been abolished and replaced by a civil action under the Administrative Procedure Act in a United States district court or in some circumstances a petition for review in a United States court of appeals. Administrative law in the United States often relates to, or arises from, so-called independent agencies- such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Here is FTCs headquarters in Washington D.C. Administrative law (or regulatory law) is the body of law that arises from the activities of administrative agencies... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... Judicial review is the power of a court to review the actions of public sector bodies in terms of their legality or constitutionality. ... Federal independent agencies were established through separate statutes passed by Congress. ... A lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in order to recover a right, obtain damages for an injury, obtain an injunction to prevent an injury, or obtain a declaratory judgment to prevent future legal disputes. ... The federal Administrative Procedures Act (APA) of 1946 governs the way in which administrative agencies of the United States federal government may propose and establish regulations. ... Map of the boundaries of the United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. ...