Section 2 Purpose of Writ of Prohibition

• Library: Administrative Law 2011

Prohibition is an extraordinary remedy available to restrain courts and other public bodies exercising quasi-judicial powers from acting in excess of the powers conferred on them. State ex rel. Gralike v. Walsh, 483 S.W.2d 70, 74 (Mo. banc 1972). It is a powerful writ, requiring the body against whom it is directed to cease further activities. State ex rel. Anderson v. Nixon, 158 S.W.3d 306, 308 (Mo. App. W.D. 2005).

The prohibition remedy is “essentially a means to prevent usurpation of judicial power, confine inferior courts and agencies to their proper jurisdiction and prevent them from acting without or in excess
of their jurisdiction.” State ex rel. Lohman v.Pers. Advisory Bd.,
948 S.W.2d 701, 703 (Mo. App. W.D. 1997) (quoting State ex rel.
401 N. Lindbergh Assocs. v. Ciarleglio, 807 S.W.2d 100, 103 (Mo. App. E.D. 1990)).

Because prohibition is such a powerful tool, its use is limited to three, fairly rare categories of cases. State ex rel. Riverside Joint Venture v. Mo. Gaming Comm’n, 969 S.W.2d 218, 221 (Mo. banc 1998). The three categories are as follows:

When a judicial or quasi-judicial body lacks personal jurisdiction over a party or lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter the body is asked to adjudicate

When a lower tribunal lacks the power to act as contemplated

In those very limited situations in which an absolute irreparable harm may come to a litigant if some spirit of justifiable relief is not made available to...