Mandate

The right to act on a matter within defined limits -- a logical consequence of sovereignty under the Ultimate Law, not a privilege granted by rulers, votes, or attackers. Every agent is sovereign over their own body, property, agreements, and moral debt; from that sovereignty, mandates follow in two ways. When a boundary is being crossed without consent, the agent whose boundary is at stake holds a self-sourced mandate to halt the violation in progress -- as in self-defense: no external permission is required because the right follows from Self-Ownership and the fact of ongoing harm. When harm has already occurred, the victim's sovereign mandate may extend to another agent acting as proxy -- authorizing a punisher to close the moral debt only as the victim directs, within proportion, through retribution, restitution, or release. A mandate is invalid under duress, invalid when imposed by vote or authority over an unwilling agent, and invalid beyond the scope freely consented to. Acting outside a mandate is coercion with a new victim. Delegation in voluntary trade or cooperation follows the same logic: another may act for you only within the scope you consented to.