Code of Alabama
Ala. Code § 6-6-640 (2026)
Commencement by Petition; Answer Thereto; Amendments; Relief Upon Issues Presented.
✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026
(a) All applications for mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, or other remedial writ of a supervisory nature shall be commenced by a petition, verified by affidavit, in which the facts shall be stated as briefly and succinctly as the case will admit of, and any defendant may answer as to all such matters as may be necessary to his defense; any of the pleadings in such proceedings may be amended as often as occasion may require to attain the ends of justice and by striking out parties and adding new parties; and upon the issues thus presented, the court shall award the relief, if any, to which the petitioner is entitled.
(b) In any such proceeding, the answer shall not be conclusive, but the truth or sufficiency thereof may be put in issue and controverted.
(Code 1886, §§3128, 3159; Code 1896, §§2825, 2826; Code 1907, §§4804, 4805; Code 1923, §§8978, 8979; Code 1940, T. 7, §§1072, 1073.)
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 22
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1979–2024 · leading case: Collins v. Alabama Dep't of Corr., 84 So. 3d 48 (Ala. 2010).
Collins v. Alabama Dep't of Corr., 84 So. 3d 48 (Ala. 2010). “The DOC contends that the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals to affirm the circuit court’s dismissal of Collins’s petition does not conflict with Smith because, it says, “the language requiring verification in Alabama Code [1975,] § 6-6-640, construed in Ackles, is…”
Minesaha, Inc. v. Town of Webb, 236 So. 3d 890 (Ala. Civ. App. 2017). “7, §§ 1072-1080, the pertinent provisions of which are now located in §§ 6-6-640 through 6-6-642, Ala. Code 1975, for an explanation of the appropriate procedure to be followed regarding petitions for remedial writs.”
Ex Parte Ocwen Fed. Bank, FSB, 872 So. 2d 810 (Ala. 2003). “…to their discovery request by failing to object in a timely manner. See Rule 34(b), Ala. R. Civ. P. [13] Now § 6-6-640, Ala. Code 1975.”
State ex rel. Alabama Policy Inst., 200 So. 3d 495 (Ala. 2015). “Those courts, however, have the benefit of Ala. Code 1975, § 6-6-640(a), which requires mandamus petitions to be “verified by affidavit.”
Wall to Wall Props. v. Cadence Bank, NA, 163 So. 3d 384 (Ala. Civ. App. 2014). “Background In a petition for a writ of mandamus filed in the circuit court, and in accompanying affidavits with supporting documentation attached, see Ala.Code 1975, § 6-6-640, Wall alleged that it had purchased a parcel of real property (“the property”), which included a…”
Bryan v. Hubbard, 6 So. 3d 491 (Ala. 2008). “Code 1975, to prevent Hubbard, in his official capacity as chairman of the Alabama Republican Party executive committee, from revoking Bryan's certificate of nomination because, they alleged, Bankson's election contest "was defective and failed to quicken the jurisdiction of the…”
Collier v. State, 64 So. 3d 1045 (Ala. 2010). “2010), holds that the verification requirement in § 6-6-640(a), Ala.Code 1975, for petitions for mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, and other remedial writs is a procedural, not a jurisdictional, requirement.”
Delview Meadow, Etc. v. Ala. Dairy Com'n, 383 So. 2d 511 (Ala. 1979). “We note that Title 7, section 1072, Code of Alabama 1940 (§ 6-6-640, Code 1975), which governs the procedure for amending petitions for certiorari, states, in pertinent part, the following: ".”
Horton Homes, Inc. v. Shaner, 999 So. 2d 462 (Ala. 2008). “,] does not mention the verification requirement contained in § 6-6-640, but, in all other respects, appears to restate and expand upon all the requirements set out in § 6-6-640, thus eliminating any effect that statute may have had as to mandamus petitions filed in appellate…”
State v. Anderson, 112 So. 3d 31 (Ala. 2012). “I am not persuaded that such a petition is within the original jurisdiction of this Court or that asking this Court for a writ directed to the comptroller (as opposed to a writ directed to the circuit court) is a proper method for invoking the appellate authority of this Court…”
Wall to Wall Props., Inc. v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 206 So. 3d 658 (Ala. Civ. App. 2016). “With regard to the timely filing of a mandamus petition under such circumstances, this court stated: “A petition for a writ of mandamus filed in a circuit court under § 6-6-640, Ala.Code 1975, must be filed without unreasonable delay.”
Alabama Leisure Enter., Inc. v. Macon Cnty. Racing Comm'n, 460 So. 2d 195 (Ala. Civ. App. 1984). “shall be commenced by a petition, verified by affidavit, in which the facts shall be stated as briefly and succinctly as the case will admit of, and any defendant may answer as to all such matters as may be necessary to his defense; any of the pleadings in such proceedings may…”
— Ala. Code § 6-6-640(a) — 5 cases
Collins v. Alabama Dep't of Corr., 84 So. 3d 48 (Ala. 2010). “The DOC contends that the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals to affirm the circuit court’s dismissal of Collins’s petition does not conflict with Smith because, it says, “the language requiring verification in Alabama Code [1975,] § 6-6-640, construed in Ackles, is…”
State ex rel. Alabama Policy Inst., 200 So. 3d 495 (Ala. 2015). “Those courts, however, have the benefit of Ala. Code 1975, § 6-6-640(a), which requires mandamus petitions to be “verified by affidavit.”
Minesaha, Inc. v. Town of Webb, 236 So. 3d 890 (Ala. Civ. App. 2017). “7, §§ 1072-1080, the pertinent provisions of which are now located in §§ 6-6-640 through 6-6-642, Ala. Code 1975, for an explanation of the appropriate procedure to be followed regarding petitions for remedial writs.”
Collier v. State, 64 So. 3d 1045 (Ala. 2010). “2010), holds that the verification requirement in § 6-6-640(a), Ala.Code 1975, for petitions for mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, and other remedial writs is a procedural, not a jurisdictional, requirement.”
Ex Parte Rex David Norris, 877 So. 2d 634 (Ala. Crim. App. 2003).
— Ala. Code § 6-6-640(b) — 1 case
Minesaha, Inc. v. Town of Webb, 236 So. 3d 890 (Ala. Civ. App. 2017). “7, §§ 1072-1080, the pertinent provisions of which are now located in §§ 6-6-640 through 6-6-642, Ala. Code 1975, for an explanation of the appropriate procedure to be followed regarding petitions for remedial writs.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.