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MANDATE Definition & Legal Meaning

Definition & Citations:

In practice. A Judicial command or precept proceeding from a court or judicial officer, directing the proper officer to enforce a judgment, sentence, or decree. Seaman v. Clarke, 60 App. Div. 416, 69 N. Y. Supp. 1002; Horton v. State, 63 Neb. 34, 88 N. W. 146.

In the practice of the supreme court of the United States, the mandate is a precept or order issued upon the decision of an appeal or writ of error, directing the action to be taken, or disposition to be made of the case, by the inferior court In some of the state jurisdictions, the name “mandate” has been substituted for “mandamus” as the formal title of that writ In contracts. A bailment of property in regard to which the bailee engages to do some act without reward. Story, Bailm. jj 137.

A mandate is a contract by which a lawful business is committed to the management of another, and by him undertaken to be performed gratuitously. The mandatary is bound to the exercise of slight diligence, and is responsible for gross neglect. The fact that the mandator derives no benefit from the acts of the mandatary is not of itself evidence of gross negligence. Richardson v. Futrell, 42 Miss. 525; Williams v. Conger, 125 U. S. 397, 8 Sup. Ct. 933, 31 L Ed. 778.

A mandate, procuration, or letter of attorney is an act by which one person gives power to another to transact for him and in his name one or several affairs. The mandate may take place in five different manners,

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