G'day Q,

Yes - once I had the full Latin phrases (it's a long time since I studied Latin!) I was able to do a full web serach ... and found out these writs are, indeed, alive and well in the USA. This does not surprise me, as it is a commonplace that words, phrases and customs often survive in an ex-colonial country long after they have vanished in the old 'home country'- if they were popular at the time of 'decolonisation'.

My sample references in Australian legislation, from 1901 - the year of Australian Federation, suggest that our first homegrown statute laws (to replace English Common Law) shook them out of most legal pockets ... but kept them in the back of the statute book - just in case. Obviously, they were widely used in Griffin's day (c. 1843) ... and still familiar to Paterson, who started practice as a solicitor in the 1890s, when he edited the first edition of Old Bush Songs in 1905.

Regards,

Bob Bolton