What is Quo Warranto?

Quo-warrantoOver the course of the past two months I have randomly come across the phrase quo warranto.  The first time was the in the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure (Part VII, sec. 7) and the second time was in the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code (§§66.001 et seq.).  I was further intrigued by the fact that neither of these sources give a meaningful description of the… proceeding… cause of action… whatever quo warranto happens to be.  I became curious enough to look into it.