A writ of coram vobis is a directive from an appellate court to a lower court to review its decision in a case due to the presence of a fact which existed during consideration of the initial case, but was missing from the record due to some fraud, duress, or other excusable error. There must not have been negligence on the part of the party now seeking the writ. Functionally, a writ of coram vobis is the same as a writ of coram nobis except the writ of coram nobis is issued by the trial court. See this Duke Law Review article: The Writs of Error: Coram Nobis and Coram Vobis.
[Last updated in July of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]