Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A writ issued by a court requiring a public official or entity to perform a duty associated with that office or entity.
- noun A legal proceeding seeking such a writ.
- transitive verb To serve or compel with such a writ.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To issue a mandamus to; serve with a mandamus.
- noun In law, a writ issuing from a superior court, directed to an inferior court, an officer, a corporation, or other body, requiring the person or persons addressed to do some act therein specified, as being within their office and duty, as to admit or restore a person to an office or franchise, or to deliver papers, affix a seal to a paper, etc.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Law) A writ issued by a superior court and directed to some inferior tribunal, or to some corporation or person exercising authority, commanding the performance of some specified duty.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun law A
common law prerogative writ that compels acourt or government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an extraordinary writ commanding an official to perform a ministerial act that the law recognizes as an absolute duty and not a matter for the official's discretion; used only when all other judicial remedies fail
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Cap* Husk writes me to keep his mandamus to bring with me, and pray let L "ColP Sherburne write what he wou'd have done with his; and so much for mandamus*
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Basically, it ` s an emergency stay and notice amend (ph), asking for a writ of mandamus, which is in a way saying that the judge didn ` t execute the law correctly.
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Whether or not all of this fits in with what you legally characterize as mandamus or prohibition is not so clear because this is extraordinary and whether the court will be able to conclude that they had jurisdiction to decide these matters at this time, it's not so clear, and I will guarantee you that -- go ahead.
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They've asked for something called a mandamus, an order from a judge to begin the count once again, that manual hand count.
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He brought what was known as a mandamus proceeding — which is a taxpayers 'proceeding to determine who is rightfully entitled to the tax money in the form of the salary for sheriff of Madison County.
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Griffith said he welcomes the court action, called a mandamus, though he believes Gilligan should have filed it against commissioners for failing to execute an agreement requiring him to pay.
Times Leader News 2010
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Interhab filed what is known as a mandamus petition with the state supreme court, which is an original order that doesn't have to go through lower court processes.
Los Angeles Business News - Local Los Angeles News | Los Angeles Business from bizjournals 2010
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"They actually asked for something beyond a declaration - they asked for an order of mandamus, which is basically a mandatory injunction that would require the government to prepare a plan that complies with the law."
unknown title 2009
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If she fails to carry out this duty, a citizen can initiate a legal action called mandamus, compelling her to do her job.
WordPress.com News 2008
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In accordance with the Charter Act, he proceeded to appoint the so-called "mandamus" councillors.
Formation of the Union, 1750-1829 Albert Bushnell Hart 1898
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