mandamus

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A common law prerogative writ that compels a court or government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly.

   “I admit to all my learned friends that a Mandamus does not issue where there is another course of proceeding by which the thing can be effected; but I again state to your Lordships, that if in this case a Mandamus must not issue, there is no other proceeding that can be adopted.”

   “And then it was moved that the court would grant a mandamus to the delegates to admit the bishop's allegations: and it was compared to the cases where they grant mandamuses to compel the granting of probates of wills or letters of administration.”

   “A mandamus is a writ commanding the execution of an act, where otherwise justice would be obstructed, or the king's charter neglected, issuing regularly only in cases relating to the public and the government; and is therefore termed […] a prerogative writ.”

   “The lord is compellable by mandamus to admit the surrenderee, that is, the person to whose use the surrender is made.”

verb

1. (transitive)To serve a writ of this kind upon.