noun
- an authoritative order or command, esp. a written one
- Historical
- a commission from the League of Nations to a country to administer some region, colony, etc.
- the area so administered
- the wishes of constituents expressed to a representative, legislature, etc., as through an election and regarded as an order
- Law
- an order from a higher court or official to a lower one: a is a mandate from an appellate court to the lower court, communicating its decision in a case appealed
- in English law, a bailment of personal property with no consideration
- in Roman law, a commission or contract by which a person undertakes to do something for another, without recompense but with indemnity against loss
- any contract of agency
Origin:
L mandatum, neut. pp. of mandare, lit., to put into one's hand, command, entrust < manus, a hand + pp. of dare, to give: see manual & date
transitive verb mandated, mandating
- to assign (a region, etc.) as a mandate
- to require as by law; make mandatory