Mandat (justice)

A warrant is generally an order that serves as a specific type of authorization, that is, a writ issued by a competent officer, usually a judge or magistrate, that permits an otherwise illegal act that would violate individual rights and affords the person executing the writ protection from damages if the act is performed. A warrant is usually issued by a court and is directed to a sheriff, a constable, or a police officer. Warrants normally issued by a court include search warrants, arrest warrants, and execution warrants. Arrest warrant, issued by a judge to detain someone Execution warrant, writ issued by a judge authorizing the death of someone Possessory warrant, a civil writ issued by a judge ordering property searched for, then delivered to a named person Search warrant, a writ issued by a judge allowing law enforcement to look inside a property Warrant of committal, issued by a judge ordering enforcement of a previous order against an uncooperative person or corporation Warrant of delivery, a civil writ issued by a judge ordering property delivered to a named person Warrant of execution, a writ issued by a judge allowing law enforcement officers to seize property Warrant of possession, an Australian judge ordered to terminate of a residential real estate tenancy In the United Kingdom, senior public appointments are made by warrant under the royal sign-manual, the personal signature of the monarch, on the recommendation of the government. In an interesting survival from medieval times, these warrants abate (lose their force) on the death of the sovereign if they have not already been executed. This particularly applied to death warrants in the days when England authorized capital punishment. Perhaps the most celebrated example of this occurred on 17 November 1558, when England was under the rule of a Catholic queen, Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and the Spanish Catholic Catherine of Aragon. Several Protestant "heretics" had been condemned to die, a not uncommon situation under the reign of "Bloody Mary".