Wiktionary
n. (context legal English) A writ that compels a government entity to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly.
WordNet
n. an extraordinary writ commanding an official to perform a ministerial act that the law recognizes as an absolute duty and not a matter for the official's discretion; used only when all other judicial remedies fail [syn: mandamus]
Usage examples of "writ of mandamus".
The prison authorities have refused to keep him any longer, and now he is suing them for damages, and is trying to get a writ of mandamus to compel them to take him back and let him serve out the rest of the sentence!
He was about to make some trouble over this, until I reminded him that there was a writ of mandamus almost as old as Coroners Courts, by which I could haul him up to the Lord Chief Justice.