Certiorari \Cer`ti*o*ra"ri\, n. [So named from the emphatic word certiorari in the Latin form of the writ, which read certiorar volumus we wish to be certified.]

(Law) A writ issuing out of chancery, or a superior court, to call up the records of a inferior court, or remove a cause there depending, in order that the party may have more sure and speedy justice, or that errors and irregularities may be corrected. It is obtained upon complaint of a party that he has not received justice, or can not have an impartial trial in the inferior court.

Note: A certiorari is the correct process to remove the proceedings of a court in which cases are tried in a manner different from the course of the common law, as of county commissioners. It is also used as an auxiliary process in order to obtain a full return to some other process. --Bouvier.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)