The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Mandate \Man"date\, n. [L. mandatum, fr. mandare to commit to
   one's charge, order, orig., to put into one's hand; manus
   hand + dare to give: cf. F. mandat. See Manual, Date a
   time, and cf. Commend, Maundy Thursday.]
   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.
      [1913 Webster]

            This dream all-powerful Juno; I bear
            Her mighty mandates, and her words you hear.
                                                  --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hence: (Politics) 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.
      [PJC]

   3. Hence: 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.
      [PJC]

   4. (Canon Law) 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.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Scots Law) A contract by which one employs another to
      manage any business for him. By the Roman law, it must
      have been gratuitous. --Erskine.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

mandate
    n 1: a document giving an official instruction or command [syn:
         mandate, authorization, authorisation]
    2: a territory surrendered by Turkey or Germany after World War
       I and put under the tutelage of some other European power
       until they are able to stand by themselves [syn: mandate,
       mandatory]
    3: the commission that is given to a government and its policies
       through an electoral victory
    v 1: assign under a mandate; "mandate a colony"
    2: make mandatory; "the new director of the school board
       mandated regular tests"
    3: assign authority to

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

219 Moby Thesaurus words for "mandate":
   adverse possession, agency, agentship, ally, alodium, archduchy,
   archdukedom, assignment, authority, authorization, behest,
   bench warrant, bid, bidding, body politic, brevet, buffer state,
   burgage, call on, call the signals, call upon, capias,
   captive nation, care, caveat, charge, chieftaincy, chieftainry,
   city-state, claim, colony, command, commission, commissioning,
   commitment, commonweal, commonwealth, consignment,
   constitutional referendum, country, county, cure, de facto,
   de jure, death warrant, declare, decree, delegated authority,
   delegation, dependency, deputation, derivative title, devolution,
   devolvement, dictate, direct, direct initiative, domain, dominion,
   duchy, dukedom, earldom, embassy, empery, empire, empowerment,
   enjoin, entrusting, entrustment, errand, executorship, exequatur,
   factorship, facultative referendum, fee fief, fee position,
   fee simple, fee simple absolute, fee simple conditional,
   fee simple defeasible, fee simple determinable, fee tail, feodum,
   feud, fiat, fiefdom, fieri facias, frankalmoign, free city,
   free socage, freehold, full power, gavelkind, give an order,
   give the word, grand duchy, habere facias possessionem,
   having title to, hold, holding, imperative, indirect initiative,
   initiative, injunction, instruct, interdict, issue a command,
   issue a writ, jurisdiction, kingdom, knight service, land, lay fee,
   lease, leasehold, legal claim, legal possession, legation, license,
   lieutenancy, mandamus, mandant, mandated territory, mandatee,
   mandatory, mandatory injunction, mandatory referendum, mission,
   mittimus, nation, nationality, nisi prius, notice, notification,
   occupancy, occupation, office, ordain, order, order about,
   original title, owning, plebiscite, plebiscitum,
   plenipotentiary power, polis, polity, possessing, possession,
   power, power of attorney, power to act, precept, preoccupancy,
   preoccupation, prepossession, prescription, principality,
   principate, process, proclaim, procuration, prohibitory injunction,
   promulgate, pronounce, property, property rights,
   proprietary rights, protectorate, province, proxy,
   puppet government, puppet regime, purview, realm, recall,
   referendum, regency, regentship, republic, responsibility, rule,
   satellite, say the word, search warrant, seisin, seneschalty,
   settlement, socage, sovereign nation, squatting, state,
   statutory referendum, sublease, sultanate, superpower, task,
   tenancy, tenantry, tenure, tenure in chivalry, territory, title,
   toparchia, toparchy, trust, trusteeship, underlease, undertenancy,
   usucapion, vicarious authority, villein socage, villeinhold,
   villenage, warrant, warrant of arrest, warrant of attorney, word,
   writ



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

MANDATE. Mandatum or commission, contracts. Sir William Jones defines a
mandate to be a bailment of goods without reward, to be carried from place
to place, or to have some act performed about them. Jones' Bailm. 52; 2 Ld.
Raym. 909, 913. This seems more properly an enumeration of the various sorts
of mandates than a definition of the contract. According to Mr. Justice
Story, it is a bailment of personal property, in regard to which the bailee
engages to do some act without reward. Bailm. Sec. 137. And Mr. Chancellor
Kent defines it to be when one undertakes, without recompense, to do some
act for the other in respect to the thing bailed. Comm. 443. See, for other
definitions, Story on Bailm. Sec. 137; Pothier, Pand. lib. 17, tit. 1;
Wood's Civ. Law, B. 3, c. 5, p. 242; Halifax's Anal. of the Civ. Law, 70,;
Code of Louis. art. 2954; Code Civ. art. 1984; 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 1068.
     2. From the very term of the definition, three things are necessary to
create a mandate. First, that there should exist something which should be
the matter of the contract; secondly, that it should be done gratuitously;
and thirdly, that the parties. should voluntarily intend to enter into the
contract. Poth. Pand. Lib. 17, tit. 1, p. 1, Sec. 1; Poth. Contr. de Mandat,
c. 1, Sec. 2.
     3. There is no particular form or manner of entering into the contract
of mandate, prescribed either by the common law, or by the civil law, in
order to give it validity. It may be verbal or in writing; it may be express
or implied it may be in solemn form or in any other manner. Story on Bailm.
Sec. 160. The contract may be varied at the pleasure of the parties. It may
be absolute or conditional, general or special, temporary or permanent.
Wood's Civ. Law, 242; 1 Domat, B. 1. tit. 15, Sec. 1, 6, 7, 8; Poth. Contr.
de Mandat, c. 1, Sec. 3, n. 34, 35, 36.
     4. As to the degree of diligence which the mandatory is bound to
exercise, see Mandatory; Negligence; Pothier, Mandat, h. t; Louis. Code,
tit. 15 Code Civ. t. 13, c. 2 Story on Bailm. Sec. 163 to 195; 1 Bouv. Inst.
n. 1073.
     5. As to the duties and obligations of the mandator, see Story on
Bailm. 196 to 201; Code Civ. tit. 13, c. 3; Louis. Code, tit. 15, c. 4; 1
Bouv. Inst. n. 1074.
     6. The contract of mandate may be dissolved in various ways: 1. It may
be dissolved by the mandatary at any time before he has entered upon its
execution; but in this case, as indeed in all others, where the contract is
dissolved before the act is done which the parties intended, the property
bailed is to be restored to the mandator.
     7.-2. It may be dissolved by the death of the mandatory; for, being
founded in personal confidence, it is not presumed to pass to his
representatives, unless there is some special stipulation to that effect.
But this principally applies to cases where the mandate remains wholly
unexecuted; for if it be in part executed, there may in some cases, arise a
personal obligation on the part of the representatives to complete it. Story
on Bailm. Sec. 202.; 2 Kent's Com. 504, Sec. 4; Pothier, Mandat, c. 4, Sec.
1, n. 101.
     8. Whenever the trust is of a nature which requires united, advice,
confidence and skill of all, and is deemed a joint personal trust to all,
the death of one joint mandatary dissolves the contract as to all. See Story
on Bailm. Sec. 202; Co. Litt. 112, b; Id. 181, b; Com. Dig. Attorney, C 8;
Bac. Abr. Authority, C; 2 Kent's Com. 504 7 Taunt. 403.
     9. The death of the mandator, in like manner, puts an end to the
contract. See 2 Mason's R. 342; 8 Wheat. R. 174; 2 Kent's Com. 507; 1 Domat,
B. 1, tit. 15, Sec. 4, n. 6, 7, 8; Pothier, Contract de Mandat, c. 4, Sec.
2, n. 103. But although an unexecuted mandate ceases with the death of the
mandator, yet, if it be executed in part at that time, it is binding to that
extent, and his representatives must indemnify the mandatory. Story on
Bailm. Sec. 204, 205.
    10.-3. The contract of mandate may be dissolved by a change in the
state of the parties; as if either party becomes insane, or, being a woman,
marries before the execution of the mandate. Story on Bailm. Sec. 206; 2
Rop. on H. & W., 69, 73; Salk. 117; Bac. Abr. Baron and Feme, E; 2 Kent's
Com. 506,
    11.-4. It may be dissolved by a revocation of the authority, either by
operation of law, or by the act of the mandator.
    12. It ceases by operation of law when the power of the mandator ceases
over the subject-matter; as, if he be a guardian, it ceases, as to his
ward's property, by the termination of the guardianship. Pothier, Contract
de Mandat, c. 4, Sec. 4, n. 112.
    13. So, if the mandator sells the property, it ceases upon the sale, if
it be made known to the mandatory. 7 Ves. Jr. 276; Story on Bailm. Sec. 207.
    14. By the civil law the contract of mandate ceases by the revocation of
the authority. Story on Bailm. Sec. 208; Code Civ. art. 2003 to 2008; Louis,
Code, art. 2997.
    15. At common law, the party giving an authority is generally entitled
to revoke it. See 5 T. R. 215; Wallace's R. 126; 5 Binn. 316. But, if it be
given as a part of a security, as if a letter of attorney be given to
collect a debt, as a security for money advanced, it is irrevocable by the
party, although revoked by death. 2 Mason's R. 342; 8 Wheat. 174; 2 Esp. R.
365; 7 Ves. 28; 2 Ves. & Bea. 51; 1 Stark. R. 121; 4 Campb. 272.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

MANDATE, practice. A judicial command or precept issued by a court or
magistrate, directing the proper officer to enforce a judgment, sentence or
decree. Jones'. Bailm. 52; Story on Bailm. Sec. 137.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

MANDATE, civil law. Mandates were the instructions which the emperor
addressed to public functionaries, which were to serve as rules for their
conduct. 2. These mandates resembled those of the pro-consuls, the mandata
jurisdictio, and were ordinarily binding on the legates or lieutenants of
the emperor of the imperial provinces, and, there they had the authority of
the principal edicts. Sav. Dr. Rom. ch. 3, Sec. 24, n. 4.