quo warranto
Americannoun
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(formerly, in England) a writ calling upon a person to show by what authority they claim an office, franchise, or liberty.
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(in England and the United States) a trial, hearing, or other legal proceeding initiated to determine by what authority one has an office, franchise, or liberty.
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the pleading initiating a trial, hearing, or other legal proceeding initiated to determine by what authority one has an office, franchise, or liberty.
noun
Etymology
Origin of quo warranto
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Medieval Latin quō warrantō “by what warrant”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The filing asks the state's highest court to grant a rarely used writ of quo warranto to oust Wu from his office.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2025
First, quo warranto actions are mechanisms for ensuring honest corporate governance.
From Slate ● Jul. 25, 2017
This quo warranto business may feel airy and academic.
From Slate ● Feb. 15, 2017
To avert this threatened unpleasantness, the Governor's friends introduced a bill giving the Governor as well as other state officials immunity from quo warranto proceedings.
From Time Magazine Archive
At Exeter, in 1276, in reply to a writ of quo warranto, it was satisfactorily shown that the rights of the city, its fee-farm rent and its farms, dated from pre-Conquest days.
From Exeter by Haslehust, E. W.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
