Writ De Haeretico Comburendo

Engl. law. The name of a writ formerly issued by the secular courts, when a man was turned over to them by the ecclesiastical tribunals, after having been condemned for heresy.

It was founded on the statute 2 Hen. IV.; it was first used, A. D. 1401, and as late as the year 1611. By virtue of this writ, the unhappy man against whom it was issued, was burned to death.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.