We are not lawyers ... but we need to understand their lexicon (lawyers always have their own lingo only they can understand. Same with doctors, nurses, and engineers)
We spend our waking hours on YouTube, and we are always exposed to hearings and debates—and also their private conversations. All we do is scratch our heads because they use legal terminologies that sound too foreign and alien to our virgin ears, and our mind wonders what they are talking about.
Let's start decoding and decrypting these words and phrases (it is irreverent for us to enter the sanctum of the in ... but desperate times need desperate measures) so the next time they use these terms again ... we are on the same page with them. Not in limbo.
We will try to dissect and define them in simpler language so ordinary mortals and laymen (the amateur and the non-experts) can actively participate in the discussion ... and at the same time broaden their legal and paralegal stock knowledge,
So our word or phrase that is hitting the headlines today is: WRIT OF MANDAMUS
PHRASE: Mandamus, Writ of Mandamus, Petition For Mandamus
MEANING: Mandamus is a Latin word and it comes from the word "mandar: which means "We Command."
Writ of Mandamus refers to a legal action where a court orders a lower court or government official to perform a specific duty that they are legally obligated to do.
It is a remedial measure and it is being utilized to ask a superior court (for instance the Supreme Court) to compel the lower court, (the Senate for instance) to compel the performance of a specific job it refused to do ... such as hearing a case falling within the latter's authority and jurisdiction.
Once the mandamus is filed ... and if the Supreme Court agrees with the filer he can "command" the Senate to do the expected job. Mandamus and its filer are asking the higher court to order the lower court to rule out some issues but not tell the judge how to rule.
EXAMPLE: In VP Sara's impeachment, Senate President Chit Escudero was very vocal that the House of Representatives had been sitting on the articles of impeachment for two months and why they forwarded the complaints at the last minute when the Senate was on recess ... (some Senators have already planned for their vacation and half of them are busy knee-deep with campaigning.)
There was also a debate on when the trial starts ... and complications arose because the Constitution stipulated that it should be done FORTHWITH otherwise known as without delay ... right away ... or immediately. Legal luminaries throw-ing in their weight said: "Anything other than that ... any delay is a violation of what the Constitution intends to do."
Amid the frenzy... one ex-PCGG lawyer (Catalino Generillo Jr.) petitioned a writ of mandamus so the impeachment trial would start immediately.
Whose legal minds will prevail ... that remains to be seen!
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