Ministerial act
Encyclopedia
A ministerial act is a government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

 action "performed according to legal authority, established procedures or instructions from a superior, without exercising any individual judgment." It can be any act a functionary or bureaucrat
Bureaucrat
A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can comprise the administration of any organization of any size, though the term usually connotes someone within an institution of a government or corporation...

 performs in a prescribed manner, without exercising any individual judgment
Judgment
A judgment , in a legal context, is synonymous with the formal decision made by a court following a lawsuit. At the same time the court may also make a range of court orders, such as imposing a sentence upon a guilty defendant in a criminal matter, or providing a remedy for the plaintiff in a civil...

 or discretion
Discretion
Discretion is a noun in the English language with several meanings revolving around the judgment of the person exercising the characteristic.-Meanings:*"The Art of suiting action to particular circumstances"...

. Under law, this would be classified under the rubric
Rubric
A rubric is a word or section of text which is traditionally written or printed in red ink to highlight it. The word derives from the , meaning red ochre or red chalk, and originates in Medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 13th century or earlier...

 of public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...

.

Examples of what is, and is not, ministerial

Examples of ministerial acts include:
  • the entry of an order of the court
    Court
    A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...

     by a clerk of the court,
  • notarization (acknowledgement) by a notary public
    Notary public
    A notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...

    ,
  • mechanical processing of an income tax
    Income tax
    An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...

     return
  • determining the existence of facts and applying them as required by law, without any discretion
  • issuance of a building permit
  • approval of a subdivision
    Subdivision (land)
    Subdivision is the act of dividing land into pieces that are easier to sell or otherwise develop, usually via a plat. The former single piece as a whole is then known in the United States as a subdivision...

     real estate
  • approval of a demolition permit
  • a court's remand for "the correction of language in a judgment or the entry of a judgment in accordance with a mandate"


Actions that are not ministerial would include:
  • a decision about application of a tax law
    Tax law
    Tax law is the codified system of laws that describes government levies on economic transactions, commonly called taxes.-Major issues:Primary taxation issues facing the governments world over include;* taxes on income and wealth...

    , auditing of an income tax return, determining facts and applying law to those facts, and prioritizing such returns

Effects

If a ministerial act is not performed, then a court may issue a writ of mandamus to compel the public official to perform said act.

Absolute or sovereign immunity
Sovereign immunity
Sovereign immunity, or crown immunity, is a legal doctrine by which the sovereign or state cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune from civil suit or criminal prosecution....

 does not apply to the performance or non-performance of ministerial acts.

See also

  • Government Law Center of Albany Law School
  • Bureaucracy
    Bureaucracy
    A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...

  • Common law
    Common law
    Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...

  • Equity (law)
  • Writs
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK