Malfeasance in office, or official misconduct, is the commission of an unlawful act, done in an official capacity, which affects the performance of official duties. Malfeasance in office is often grounds for a for cause removal of an elected official by statute or recall election. Illegal, or unlawful, is either prohibitted or not authorized by law. ... The Statute of Grand Duchy of Lithuania A statute is a formal, written law of a country or state, written and enacted by its legislative authority, perhaps to then be ratified by the highest executive in the government, and finally published. ... A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office. ...

An exact definition of malfeasance in office is difficult. Many highly regarded secondary sources compete over the elements. This confusion extends to the courts where no single consensus definition of malfeasance in office has arisen. In part, this can be attributed to the relative paucity of reported cases involving malfeasance in office. Secondary sources is a term used in historical scholarship to refer to works of history written as synthetic accounts, based on primary sources and usually the consultation of other secondary sources. ... This article is about courts of law. ... In law, a reporter is a series of books which contain court opinions. ...

The West Virginia Supreme Court summarized a number of the definitions of malfeasance in office applied by various appellate courts in the United States. The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals is the court of last resort for the State of West Virginia. ...

Malfeasance has been defined by appellate courts in other jurisdictions as a wrongful act which the actor has no legal right to do; as any wrongful conduct which affects, interrupts or interferes with the performance of official duty; as an act for which there is no authority or warrant of law; as an act which a person ought not to do; as an act which is wholly wrongful and unlawful; as that which an officer has no authority to do and is positively wrong or unlawful; and as the unjust performance of some act which the party performing it has no right, or has contracted no, to do.

Daugherty v. Ellis, 142 W. Va. 340, 357-8, 97 S.E.2d 33, 42-3 (W. Va. 1956) (internal citations omitted). It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Appeal. ... Equality and the balancing of our interests under law is symbolised by a blindfold and weighing scales For other senses of this word, see Law (disambiguation). ...

The court then went onto use yet another definition, "malfeasance is the doing of an act which an officer had no legal right to do at all and that when an officer, through ignorance, inattention, or malice, does that which he has no legal right to do at all, or acts without any authority whatsoever, or exceeds, ignores, or abuses his powers, he is guilty of malfeasance." This article may contain original research or unverified claims. ... The term Malice has several meanings: Malice (legal term), a legal term describing the intent to harm Malice (movie), a 1993 movie starring Nicole Kidman, Alec Baldwin and Bill Pullman Malice (noun), a way to describe the feeling of hatred or disrespect. ... The expressions misfeasance and nonfeasance, and occasionally malfeasance, are used in English law with reference to the discharge of public obligations existing by common law, custom or statute. ...

Nevertheless a few "elements" can be distilled from those cases. First, malfeasance in office requires an affirmative act or omission. Second, the act must have been done in an official capacity--under the color of office. Finally, that that act some how interferes with the performance of official duties--though there is some debate remains about "whose official" duties. Color of is a legal term meaning pretense or appearance of some right. ...

In addition, jurisdictions differ greatly over whether intent or knowledge is necessary. As noted above, many courts will find malfeasance in office where there is "ignorance, inattention, or malice", which implies no intent of knowledge is required. Intent in law is the planning and desire to perform an act. ... Personification of knowledge (Greek Επιστημη, Episteme) in Celsus Library in Ephesos, Turkey. ...