BharatNotes Ultra Vires
adjective/adverb (Latin legal phrase); also used predicativelyUsage in a UPSC answer
The Allahabad High Court declared the state government's notification ultra vires the parent statute, finding that the delegated authority extended only to prescribing procedures, not to altering substantive rights, which required primary legislation.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
intra vires (antonym phrase), vires (noun, rarely used alone), ultra (prefix in ultraviolet, ultrasonic), virile (cognate adjective)
Root
Latin ultra (beyond) + vires (plural of vis = strength, power, force)
Etymology
Direct Latin: ultra (beyond, on the other side of) and vires (powers), the plural of vis (strength, force, legal power). Used in Roman private law; entered English corporate and constitutional law in the 19th century, notably in the company law context after Ashbury Railway Carriage v. Riche (1875, UK HL).
Memory Hook
ULTRA = beyond (ultraviolet = beyond violet). VIRES = powers (vis = force). ULTRA VIRES = beyond powers. Imagine a car speedometer: the red zone is ULTRA the limit. An ultra vires act is in the constitutional red zone — beyond the speed limit of legal power.
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
Latin for "beyond the powers", and the cleanest way to say that an authority acted outside its legal competence. Useful across GS2 in judicial review, delegated legislation and administrative law. Precision matters: a rule can be ultra vires the parent Act even when the Act itself is perfectly valid, which is the usual ground on which subordinate legislation falls.
Don’t Confuse It With
Ultra vires means outside the power conferred. Unconstitutional means contrary to the Constitution. Illegal means contrary to any law. A delegated rule struck down for exceeding its parent statute is ultra vires but not necessarily unconstitutional, and precision here separates a strong answer from an approximate one.
Hindi Meaning
शक्ति से बाहर (shakti se bāhar) or अधिकारातीत (adhikārātīt), literally beyond authority.
Common Questions
- What does ultra vires mean?
- Beyond the powers. It describes an act or rule made by an authority that exceeds the legal power granted to it.
- What is the opposite of ultra vires?
- Intra vires, meaning within the powers, describing action that falls properly inside the authority conferred.
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