MANDATE, a contract in Roman law constituted by one person (the mandataries) promising to do something gratuitously at the request of another (the mandator), who undertakes to in demnify him against loss. (See ROMAN LAw.) The essentials and the terminology of the contract are preserved in most modern systems; but in English law mandate, under that name, can hardly be said to exist as a separate form of contract. To some extent the law of mandatum corresponds to the law of principal and agent (q.v.). "Mandate" is retained to signify the contract more generally known as gratuitous bailment. It is restricted to per sonal property, and it implies the delivery of something to the bailee, both of which conditions are unknown in the mandatum of the civil law (see BAILMENT).
In its origin it was in the nature of a compromise. After the World War the victorious Allies naturally wished to retain the German and Turkish colonies, in the conquest of which they had in most cases made great sacrifices. It was believed that these colonies had been subjected to misrule; pledges had been made to the native inhabitants, some of whom had taken part with the victors in the fighting, that they should not be handed over to the vengeance of their former masters; and finally, a misgiving existed lest, in case of rendition, Germany might use them as recruiting grounds for black armies, and their ports as bases for submarines in a future war. On the other hand the Allies had declared (more particularly in the pre-Armistice statement of Nov. 5, 1918) that
annexation of territory was not their aim in the war.
International control of some kind was the only alternative. Joint administration was condemned as impracticable and op posed to the interests of the people. Even as a condominium be tween two Powers only, it had given rise to friction in Egypt, Samoa and the New Hebrides. The only other course lay in the appointment of an individual Power in whom could be vested responsibility for the administration of each separate territory as an agent, or mandatory, of the League. For this course there were analogies in the delegation of quasi-sovereign powers to British and Dutch chartered companies and in the control of the Ionian Isles on behalf of the Powers by Great Britain in 1859. Individ uals also had been appointed as mandatories of the Powers, as when King Leopold undertook control of the "International Free State of the Congo," and when Prince George of Greece was made governor of Crete in 1898.
The main defect of these delegations of sovereignty was that they provided no machinery to ensure the due execution of the trust, and it is the distinctive feature of the mandate system that it attempts to remedy this defect. The League of Nations afforded just such a supervisory authority as was needed, and its supervision is exercised through the medium of a standing com mittee, known as the "Permanent Mandates Commission." The League had nothing to do with the assignment of the mandates or with their terms, or with the extent and boundaries of the terri tories. These were determined by the Supreme Council. The United States, not being a member of the League, was no party to this arrangement, and she insisted that as an Associated Power her consent was necessary. The mandates therefore were sub mitted to her, and approved on condition that "free and equal treatment in law and in fact was secured to the commerce of all nations." Where the mandate did not ensure this she negotiated separate treaties with the mandatory concerned.