Mandamus, ( Latin: we command) originally a formal writ issued by the English crown commanding an official to perform a specific act within the duty of his office.
Writing for the majority, Marshall held that the court could not issue a writ of mandamus compelling Madison to deliver Marbury's commission, as Marbury had requested, because the act that authorized the court to issue such writs (the Judiciary Act of 1789) was in fact unconstitutional and therefore invalid.
In Anglo-American legal systems, mandamus is used by courts of superior jurisdiction to compel the performance of a specific act refused by a lower court, such as the hearing of a case falling within the latter's authority.
Other writs may be used to enforce the judgment of a court (attachment, delivery) or to require a lower court to furnish certain records (error) or perform a certain act (mandamus).
Such remedies as an injunction, an order for specific performance, or an order for mandamus will not lie against the central government.
The first thing NOW did was to seek a writ of mandamus against the E.E.O.C., compelling it to perform its legal function.
An inscription on the first page of the document described it as "A petition for mandamus [a writ from a superior court to an inferior court or official, ordering some specific action] in the case of the People vs. the Auditor of Illinois, before the Hon. S. H. Treat, C. J., presiding during the June term, 1851, Lincoln and Herndon for the petitioner".
That would be difficult, however, because it requires seeking a writ of mandamus, which are granted only in extraordinary circumstances.
The S.E.C. and I.B.M. could try to go over Judge Leon's head by seeking a writ of mandamus from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit directing him to approve the settlement.
The legal decision is explained in plain English (there's neither a tort nor mandamus to be seen).
Cephus said: "The widow of the late president Samuel Kanyon Doe, who did not retire but was rather assassinated, filed a petition for a writ of mandamus for the retirement benefits of her late husband and the government of Liberia paid her over $400,000.
