Quare impedit

In English law, quare impedit is "a writ by which a common-law action for deciding a disputed right of presentation to a benefice begins". It is typically brought by a patron against a bishop who refuses to appoint the patron's nominee as a priest.

It gets its name from the words of the ancient writ that started the proceeding until the 19th century. This writ was directed to the sheriff, instructing him to command the defendant to permit the plaintiff to present an appropriate candidate, or else to show "why he hinders" (Latin: quare impedit) the plaintiff in the exercise of his rights. The writ of quare impedit was one of the few real actions preserved by the Real Property Limitation Act 1833, and survived up to 1860. It was abolished by the Common Law Procedure Act 1860, and proceedings in quare impedit were changed to make them as similar as possible to those in other real actions.