A precept in writing, couched In the form of a letter, running in the name of the king, president, or state, issuing from a court of justice, and sealed with its seal, addressed to a sherifT or other oflicer of the law, or directly to the person whose action the court desires to command, either as the commencement of a suit or other proceeding or as incidental to its progress, and requiring the performance of a speclfled act, or giving authority and commission to have it done
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
