Definition
A writ in old English practice that lay for a person who held a liberty or right of way to pass through a neighbor's land but was prevented from enjoying that right because the landowner had obstructed or narrowed the passage. The Latin translates literally as "wherefore he obstructed." The writ compelled the neighbor to answer why the obstruction was made and provided a remedy for the interference with the established right of passage.
Common Confusion
Quare obstruxit is occasionally grouped loosely with trespass actions, but it is not a trespass writ. Trespass quare clausum fregit — the far more commonly encountered form — addressed an unlawful entry onto another's land by an outsider. Quare obstruxit operated in the opposite direction: the complainant had a lawful right to enter or pass through the land and sought relief because that right was being denied by obstruction. The conceptual basis is closer to a writ protecting a liberty or easement than to any trespass action.
Why It Matters in Research
This is an obsolete writ of narrow historical significance, encountered almost exclusively in treatises and digests on old English practice rather than in reported case law. Researchers are most likely to encounter the term when working through Fleta, Coke's writings, or Cowell's Interpreter, where it appears in discussions of rights of way and liberties appurtenant to land.
Two terminological traps exist in the historical sources. First, Burrill notes that Lord Coke rendered the fuller form as quare obstruxit vel coarctavit — "wherefore he obstructed or narrowed" — reflecting that the grievance could be either a complete blockage or a mere narrowing of the passage. A researcher reading Coke should expect the compound phrasing. Second, Cowell's spelling quarentine (noted by Burrill as likely the original form) creates a false homonym risk: quarentine has nothing to do with quarantine but rather appears to be an orthographic variant of the writ name, traceable to manuscript conventions of the period.
Because the writ is pre-common law consolidation, it does not map cleanly onto modern cause-of-action categories. Researchers tracing the historical roots of easement law or rights-of-way disputes in equity will find quare obstruxit useful as a procedural ancestor but should not expect direct doctrinal continuity into American jurisprudence. The writ did not survive the consolidation of forms of action and has no direct statutory successor.
The Black's 2nd edition entry under this heading contains a misprint or misfiling: the substantive text provided defines quare clausum fregit rather than quare obstruxit. Researchers consulting the 2nd edition should be aware of this error and rely on the 1st edition, Rapalje & Lawrence, or Burrill for the correct definition.
Historical Dictionary Support
The four source dictionaries converge on the essential definition: a writ for one holding a right of passage who was prevented from exercising it by the landowner's obstruction. Rapalje & Lawrence and Black's 1st edition track each other closely, both citing Cowell as authority and appending the entry for quarentena terrae (a furlong) immediately after — a structural quirk of the alphabetical proximity of the two terms that has caused them to be run together across editions.
Burrill adds the most substance, citing Fleta lib. 4, c. 27, § 2 as the primary source and noting Coke's expanded phrasing (obstruxit vel coarctavit). Burrill also flags the Cowell variant spelling quarentine, suggesting the term may have passed through earlier orthographic forms before settling. None of the dictionaries discuss the writ's procedure in detail or the remedies available, which limits their usefulness beyond confirming the writ's existence and basic function. Researchers needing procedural depth should consult Fleta directly.
Jurisdictional Note
Quare obstruxit was an English writ with no recognized transplant into American practice. American common law inherited the consolidated forms of action, not the full roster of obsolete English writs. The substance of the underlying right — protection of an easement or right of way against obstruction — passed into American law through equity and, eventually, through the law of easements, but under entirely different procedural frameworks.