What is the test for determining whether a matter is a cause or a cause?

However, once respondent court issued the order to show cause and directed petitioner to file a return, "the matter [became] a 'cause,'" (Lewis v. Superior Court (1999) 19 Cal.4th 1232, 1241) and argument is not determined based on whether respondent court deems it to be "appropriate." Respondent court "must proceed to hear or fix a day for hearing the argument of the case." (Code Civ. Proc., 1094.) In this case respondent court failed to do so and instead, the court stayed the proceedings and vacated the trial date while petitioner remains in custody indefinitely with no scheduled date for oral argument.