In United States law, a ministerial act is a

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

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 An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

or bureaucrat performs in a prescribed manner, without exercising any individual judgment or discretion. Under law, this would be classified under the

rubric A rubric is a word or section of text that is traditionally written or printed in red ink for emphasis. The word derives from the la, rubrica, meaning red ochre or red chalk, and originates in Medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 13th cent ...

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

Examples of what is, and is not, ministerial

Examples of ministerial acts include: * the entry of an order of the

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government 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 ...

by a

clerk of the court A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court, administer oaths to witn ...

, * notarization (acknowledgement) by a notary public, * mechanical processing of an

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

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 may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rus ...

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 or revenue law is an area of legal study in which public or sanctioned authorities, such as federal, state and municipal governments (as in the case of the US) use a body of rules and procedures (laws) to assess and collect taxes in a ...

, 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 does not apply to the performance or non-performance of ministerial acts.Virginia Land Use law, supra, citing Bogan v. Scott-Harris, 523 U.S. 44 (1998); Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635 (1987); Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982); and Heider v. Clemons,241 Va. 143 (1991).

Examples of what is, and is not, ministerial

Effects

References

See also