"Ultra vires" literally means "beyond strength" or "beyond power". If a legal person (an individual, group of individuals or a corporate body) purports to do something which is beyond their legal power, this is "ultra vires" and therefore has no legal effect. Ashbury Railway Carriage And Iron Co Ltd v Riche (1875) is a (possibly the) case illustrating this. The objects clause of the company's memorandum of association included "to make and sell, or lend on hire, railway carriages and wagons, and all kinds of railway plant, fittings, machinery and rolling stock; to carry on the business of mechanical engineers and general contractors; to purchase, lease, work and sell mines, minerals, land and buildings; to purchase and sell as merchants, timber, coal, metals, or other materials, and to buy any such materials on commission or as agents." The company's objects did not include constructing or operating railways. Mr Riche was purportedly contracted by the directors of the company to build a railway in Belgium (that there was such an agreement was not in dispute). He was involved in some expense before the company withdrew from the agreement and Riche sued for breach of contract. The court held that the construction of an entire railway, rather than rolling stock, as specified in the objects clause as being the purpose of the company, was ultra vires the company. The memorandum containing this information was a public document, therefore deemed to be available to Mr Riche, who should therefore have been aware that the agreement was beyond the powers of the directors to agree. Therefore Riche's action for breach of the alleged contract failed because the contract, being ultra vires, never had any legal existence. Mr Riche lost his money. Legislation has now changed the relevant law, but the case is still quoted as a very good example of the operation and consequences of the concept of ultra vires. In your case, the argument was presumably that the legislators concerned had no power to ban Chinamen from working in mines. This is therefore a matter of constitutional law, and the proper scope of power of the relevant legislature at the relevant time. Best wishes Allen On Sat, 22 May 2010 17:32:19 +0100, Ruth Sprowls <ruthsprowls@windstream.net> wrote: > "J. Dunsmuir got his brother-in-law Bryden to start the action. He > secretly wanted the court to strike down the legislation that excludes > chinamen from working in the mines because it was ultra vires." > > What is ULTRA VIRES??? > TX, > Ruth > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > AYRSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/