Mandatory Order

A mandatory order is the modern name, adopted under the Civil Procedure Rules, for what was historically called mandamus. The Civil Procedure Rules governing judicial review list a mandatory order alongside a prohibiting order and a quashing order as the three forms of order that a claimant may seek where a decision, action, or failure to act by a public body is under challenge. It compels the body to carry out a public duty it has unlawfully failed or refused to perform.

Under section 31 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, an application to the High Court for a mandatory order (along with a prohibiting or quashing order, a declaration, or certain injunctions) must be made by the judicial review procedure. The High Court will not grant permission to proceed unless it considers the applicant has a sufficient interest in the matter to which the application relates, and the court retains a discretion to refuse relief — for example, where there has been undue delay in making the application and granting relief would cause substantial hardship or prejudice, or would be detrimental to good administration.