Mandate /(?)/

Man·date

Mandate

n.
  1. An official or authoritative command, order, or authorization from a superior official to a subordinate; an order or injunction; a commission; a judicial precept.
    This dream all-powerful Juno; I bear Her mighty mandates, and her words you hear.
  2. An authorization to carry out a specific public policy, given by the electorate to their representatives; -- it is considered to be implied by the election of a candidate by a significant margin after that candidate has campaigned with that policy as a prominent element of the campaign platform. (Politics)
  3. Authorization by a multinational body to a nation to administer the government and affairs of a territory, usually a former colony; as, termination of the British mandate in Palestine.
  4. A rescript of the pope, commanding an ordinary collator to put the person therein named in possession of the first vacant benefice in his collation. (Canon Law)
  5. A contract by which one employs another to manage any business for him. By the Roman law, it must have been gratuitous. (Scots Law)