mandamus

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mandamus

In the nature of an appeal, mandamus is a command from a court ordering a government authority, or a lower court official, to do some act that is within their power to do and they are supposed to do without exercising any discretion. One would appeal a decision to deny a building permit for construction with minor or inconsequential variances from code requirements. However,
one would seek mandamus if the permitting office acknowledged that all requirements had been met, but still refused to issue the permit. The decision of proper remedy—mandamus or appeal—is highly technical,and the wrong choice could result in the loss of all rights to reverse a decision.

References in periodicals archive ?

orders through its supervisory writs of mandamus and prohibition brings

Collateral review of remand orders: reasserting the supervisory role of the Supreme Court

(107) Could writs of mandamus be used in Alaska courts to enforce victims' procedural rights?

Is the office closed? The role of the office of victims' rights after Cooper v. District Court

The act to establish the judicial courts of the United States authorizes the supreme court 'to issue writs of mandamus, in cases warranted by the principles and the usages of law, to any courts appointed, or persons holding office, under the authority of the United States.' (p.

Prudential argumentation and John Marshall's opinion in Marbury v. Madison (1803)

If the Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction--because the case is one of the "cases herein after specially provided for"--then it may issue writs of mandamus to carry out that appellate jurisdiction.

Not the King's Bench

* Prohibition--Unlike under Florida law, federal writs of prohibition are closely related to federal writs of mandamus, such that the two are often sought in tandem and spoken of interchangeably.

Coram what? An introduction to federal special writs

Thus, though the interpretive point may not be entirely free of doubt, the relevant clause of section 13 seems to read most naturally as a legislative grant to the Supreme Court of a freestanding "power" to issue "writs of mandamus, in cases warranted by the principles and usages of law, to any courts appointed, or persons holding office, under authority of the United States." (38)

Marbury's wrongness

Writs of mandamus are restricted to forcing an agency to carry out their duties, and are not available to strip an agency of its discretion in its method of carrying out the duty.

The case for strict statutory construction of mandatory agency deadlines under section 706(1)

(8) And because Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 (9) purportedly conferred on the Supreme Court original jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus in this type of case, Section 13 was unconstitutional.

The Marbury mystery: why did William Marbury sue in the Supreme Court?

(34) For example, writs of mandamus have been used to compel a trial judge to rule on a pending motion; (35) to compel a trial judge to submit to a jury issues that are so triable by right; (36) and to compel a trial judge to enforce another state's judgment of child custody.

Which writ is which? A trial attorney's guide to Florida's extraordinary writs

The rule identifies writs of mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto, certiorari, habeas corpus, and all writs necessary to the complete exercise of the courts' jurisdiction.