Writ Pro Retorno Habendo Law and Legal Definition
Writ pro retorno habendo is a Latin term which means ‘for return to be had’. It means a writ issued in a replevin action, ordering a plaintiff, who has not been given possession of property, to recover goods previously replevied and returned to the defendant.
In Lill v. Stookey, 72 Ill. 495 (Ill. 1874), the court observed that “Although a court, on the dismissal of a suit in replevin, has the right to award a writ of retorno habendo, if the court fails to do this, it by no means follows that several years afterwards the court can sit in review of its own judgment, and then enter the judgment that should have been entered in the first instance. Such a practice will supersede the writ of error or appeal to the higher court.”
