GENERAL WRITS

46. General Writ (Old English).—This is a specimen of the Old English writs of the pre-Conquest period which it may be suggested served as the model of the post-Conquest writ, which was in one direction developed as a charter of feoffment and in another as a general writ used both for ministerial and legal purposes.

Bilingual Writ (Anglo-Norman).—An eccentric type of the early post-Conquest ‘diplomata,’ the interest of which lies in the contrast between the archaic Old English instrument and the formal Latin version which has as yet no conventional diplomatic character.

General Writ (Anglo-Norman).—The post-Conquest writ was at first employed for the same general purposes as the two preceding (Nos. 46 and 47); but from the reign of Henry I it assumes a conventional form which prevailed for many centuries, and to which the terms ‘original’ and ‘judicial’ are usually applied. The form in question may be described as follows. The language is Latin; the royal Superscription is curtailed; the Address is to individuals; the writ is executed in the presence of one or few witnesses and is dated, as usual, at the place of execution. The Text itself consists usually of a simple Injunction of an administrative or judicial character.

General Writ (Missive).—This is a transitional form between the general administrative writ of the 12th century (No. 48) and the well-known Letters Patent and Close which began with the 13th century. It differs from the former in respect of the Superscription and Address (which are full, like those of the Writ-Charter) and the Attestation, by the King himself.