Administrative lawLesson 3 of 3 in the course Judicial review of administrative action

Certiorari: Origins, Jurisdictional Variations, and U.S. Supreme Court Review

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 5 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

This lesson introduces certiorari as a method of judicial supervision and traces its origins in English common law. Understanding its original purpose helps explain how the remedy developed into modern judicial review.

Certiorari is a court process used to seek judicial review of a decision made by a lower court or government agency. Historically, a superior court used the writ to require the record of a lower tribunal to be sent up for examination.

All flashcards

What is certiorari?
A court process through which a superior court may review a decision of a lower court or government agency.
What did the original writ require?
It directed that the record of a lower court or tribunal be sent to a superior court for review.
What does the Latin phrase behind “certiorari” mean?
The wording *certiorari [volumus]* means “[we wish] to be made more certain”; its verb root relates to informing or showing.
What was certiorari’s role in English common law?
It was a supervisory writ used to keep inferior courts and authorities within their legal powers and to bring decisions before a superior court for investigation.
What does it mean to quash a decision?
To quash a decision is to declare it invalid so that it no longer has legal force.

Quiz questions

  1. Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s rule of four, how many justices must vote to grant a petition for certiorari?Answer: At least four of the nine justices.
  2. What does a U.S. Supreme Court denial of certiorari indicate about the lower-court decision?Answer: The denial does not decide the merits or endorse the lower-court ruling.
  3. What is the modern name in England and Wales for the remedy that developed from certiorari?Answer: A quashing order.
  4. What did New Zealand’s statutory application-for-review reform do to prerogative writs?Answer: It created a review mechanism usable instead of the writs, without abolishing them.
  5. What distinctive effect could certain Texas refusals of applications for writs of error have?Answer: They could indicate approval of the lower court’s legal statement and make its decision binding precedent.

Based on the Wikipedia article Certiorari, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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