Latin: In practice. An original writ, drawn up in the alternative, commanding the defendant to do the thing required, or show the reason why he had not done it. 3 Bl. Comm. 274. Also an order, written out and signed, addressed to the clerk of a court and requesting him to issue a particular writ Praecipe In capite. When one of the king’s immediate tenants in capite was deforced, his writ of right was called a writ of “praecipe in capite. Praecipe quod roddat. Command that he render) A writ directing the defendant to restore the possession of land, employed at the beginning of a common recovery. Praecipe quod teneat conventionem. The writ which commenced the action of covenant in fines, which are abolished by 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 74. Praecipe, tenant to the. A person having an estate of freehold in possession, against whom the praecipe was brought by a tenant in tail, seeking to bar his estate by a recovery.