Terms Used In Wisconsin Statutes 809.51

  • Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
  • Person: includes all partnerships, associations and bodies politic or corporate. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
   (1)    A person may request the court to exercise its supervisory jurisdiction or its original jurisdiction to issue a prerogative writ over a court and the presiding judge, or other person or body, by filing a petition and supporting memorandum. The petition shall be served on each party and proposed respondent, and, if applicable, upon the originating court or tribunal, by traditional methods as provided in s. 809.80 (2). The petition and memorandum combined may not exceed 35 pages if a monospaced font or handwriting is used, or 8,000 words if a proportional serif font is used. The petitioner shall name as respondents the court and judge, or other person or body, and all other parties in the action or proceeding. The petition shall contain:
      (a)    A statement of the issues presented by the controversy;
      (b)    A statement of the facts necessary to an understanding of the issues;
      (c)    The relief sought; and
      (d)    The reasons why the court should take jurisdiction.
   (1m)   ?The clerk of the court of appeals shall docket the petition upon receipt of the items referred to in sub. (1). The clerk shall assign a case number, create a notice that the petition has been docketed, transmit the notice of docketing to the clerk of circuit court if applicable, and send the notice of docketing to the parties by traditional methods.
   (2)   The court may deny the petition ex parte or may order the respondents to file a response with a supporting memorandum, if any, and may order oral argument on the merits of the petition. The response and memorandum combined may not exceed 35 pages if a monospaced font or handwriting is used, or 8,000 words if a proportional serif font is used. The respondents shall respond with supporting memorandum within 14 days after service of the order. A respondent may file a letter stating that the respondent does not intend to file a response, but the petition is not thereby admitted.
   (3)   The court, upon a consideration of the petition, responses, supporting memoranda and argument, may grant or deny the petition or order such additional proceedings as it considers appropriate. Costs and fees may be awarded against any party in a writ proceeding.
   (4)   A person filing a petition or response under this section shall file with the petition or response a certification setting forth the word count or page count of the document as provided in sub. (1) or (2).