Intra Vires / Intra Vires /

Intra vires — 'within the powers' — describes an act, decision, or legislation that is within the scope of the legal authority of the body or person performing it. A finding that an action is intra vires means it is legally authorised and valid: Parliament acted within its legislative competence, a government minister acted within the authority delegated to them, a company exercised powers within its objects clause, or a local authority made a byelaw within its statutory mandate. The intra vires act stands; the ultra vires act falls.

In constitutional law, the intra/ultra vires distinction is fundamental to federalism. The Constitution divides legislative power between Parliament (List I), State Legislatures (List II), and concurrent jurisdiction (List III). A law made by Parliament on a subject in List I is intra vires Parliament's competence; if Parliament makes a law on a List II subject, it is ultra vires Parliament's legislative competence (unless it can be sustained under an entry in List I or List III through the doctrine of pith and substance). Courts determine the validity of legislation by examining whether it is intra vires the constitution-maker's grant of power.

In administrative law, the intra vires/ultra vires distinction determines the validity of delegated legislation (rules, regulations, notifications) and administrative decisions. Delegated legislation made by an executive authority within the power conferred by the parent statute is intra vires and has the force of law. Delegated legislation that exceeds the parent statute's grant of power — by covering subjects not delegated, imposing restrictions not authorised, or specifying procedures not permitted — is ultra vires and void.

In company law, the intra vires doctrine applies to the objects clause of a company's memorandum of association (before the Companies Act, 2013 reforms). Transactions within the company's objects were intra vires and binding; transactions outside the objects were ultra vires and void — not ratifiable even by unanimous shareholder resolution. The Companies Act, 2013 significantly liberalised the ultra vires doctrine for companies, allowing ratification and limiting the circumstances in which third parties are affected by ultra vires acts of directors.

Advocates testing the constitutional validity of a law must conduct a two-stage analysis. First: is the law intra vires the legislative competence of the enacting legislature? This requires identifying the relevant entry in the Seventh Schedule through the pith and substance doctrine. Second: even if intra vires the List, does the law violate any fundamental right? A law may survive the competence challenge but fail the fundamental rights challenge, or vice versa. Both stages must be addressed in any constitutional challenge.