certiorari

Meaning

Noun

• A grant of the right of an appeal to be heard by an appellate court where that court has discretion to choose which appeals it will hear.
• A grant of review of a government action by a court with discretion to make such a review.

Origin

• From the present passive infinitive of Latin certiōrō, from the words used at the beginning of these writs when they were written in Latin: certiorārī volumus.