Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A writ issued by a superior court ordering a public official or body or a lower court to perform a specified duty.
- v. To serve or compel with such a writ.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. 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. Its use is generally confined to cases of complaint by some person having an interest in the performance of a public duty, when effectual relief against its neglect cannot be had in the course of an ordinary action.
- To issue a mandamus to; serve with a mandamus.
Wiktionary
- n. law A common law prerogative writ that compels a court or government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (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.
WordNet 3.0
- n. 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 Latin mandāmus "we command" (Wiktionary)
- Latin mandāmus, we order (used in such a writ), first person pl. present tense of mandāre, to order; see man-2 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“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*”
Internet Archive: Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society
“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.”
“They've asked for something called a mandamus, an order from a judge to begin the count once again, that manual hand count.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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
“If she fails to carry out this duty, a citizen can initiate a legal action called mandamus, compelling her to do her job.”
“In accordance with the Charter Act, he proceeded to appoint the so-called "mandamus" councillors.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mandamus’.
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Additional 250 Spelling Words
Words for the diehard intermediate and advanced spellers
facetiae, sagittary, anthophilous, hydromancy, pandect, carillonneur, tabbouleh, litterateur, windgall, pinguid, tressure, moderne and 238 more...
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phrontistery - m
from phrontistery.info
multiloculate, multilocation, multiflorous, multifid, multifarious, multicipital, multeity, multarticulate, multanimous, mulse, mullock, mullion and 898 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Law School Terminology
Words that I'm learning in law school
pro tanto, obiter dictum, ratio decidendi, ex facie, ab initio, per saltum, assumpsit, escheat, mandamus, seisin, easement, estoppel and 40 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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I am the law!
Words I learnt at law school
appeal, blackletter, contract, dictum, headnote, judgment, litigation, malfeasance, negligence, plaintiff, quantum, remedy and 216 more...
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Words to Learn
GRE study time.
viscous, divestiture, gossamer, ponderous, sinuous, panegyric, concision, aria, propitiatory, wistful, salutary, ineluctable and 93 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3248 more...
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The House
A list compiled while reading The House: The History of the House of Representatives.
rowdyism, deglutition, levee, mandarine, frenchify, malarious, interregnum, pasha, mandamus, obstreperous, putrescent, apple-john and 37 more...
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