practice. The teste of a writ is the concluding clause, commencing with the word witness 2. The act of congress of May 8, 1792, directs that all writs and process issuing from the supreme or a circuit court, shall bear teste of the chief justice of the supreme court, or if that office be vacant, of the associate justice next in precedence; and that all writs or process issuing from a district court, shall hear teste of the judge of such court, or, if the said office be vacant, of the clerk thereof.
TESTE
TheLaw.com Law Dictionary & Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed.