writ1
Pronunciation: /rɪt/
noun
- 1a form of written command in the name of a court or other legal authority to act, or abstain from acting, in a particular way: the two reinstated officers issued a writ for libel against the applicants an action begun by writ or summons
- chiefly British a Crown document summoning a peer to Parliament or ordering the election of a member or members of Parliament.
- (one's writ) one’s power to enforce compliance or submission; one’s authority: you have business here which is out of my writ and competence

Origin:
Old English, as a general term denoting written matter, from the Germanic base of write