mandamus

A command by order or writ issuing from a court of law of competent jurisdiction, in the name of the state or sovereign, directed to some inferior court, tribunal, or board, or to some corporation or person, requiring the performance of a particular duty therein specified, which duty results from the official station of the party to whom the writ is directed, or from operation of law. A coercive writ, one that commands performance, not desistance. 34 Am J1st Mand § 2. An extraordinary remedy. State ex rel. Ricco v Biggs, 198 Or 413, 255 P2d 1055, 38 ALR2d 720. A writ of mandamus was originally a prerogative writ but in this country, in modern practice, it is nothing more than an action at law between the parties and is not now regarded as a prerogative writ. 34 Am J1st Mand § 5. Since mandamus was originally a prerogative writ, issuing in the king's name, it was not a civil action, but the character of the proceeding and the nature of the writ have been so changed by statute that in most of the states of the Union it is now regarded as a civil proceeding. Nevertheless the supreme court has repeatedly held that it is not a suit of a civil nature at common law or in equity within the meaning of the acts of Congress defining the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Western Union Tel. Co. v State ex rel. Hammond Elevator Co. 165 Ind 492, 76 NE 100. See alternative mandamus; peremptory mandamus; writ of mandamus.