Ultra vires - Definition and Overview

Ultra vires is a Latin phrase that literally means "beyond the power." It is used as legal jargon in a number of contexts:

• In corporate law, ultra vires describes acts attempted by a corporation that are beyond the scope of powers granted by the corporation's charter, the laws authorizing its formation, or similar founding documents. Acts attempted by a corporation that are beyond the scope of is charter are void or voidable. Except in the case of non-profit corporations, this legal doctrine is obsolescent; within recent years, almost all business corporations are chartered to allow them to transact any lawful business. The doctrine may still have some life among non-profit corporations or state-created corporate bodies established for a specific public purpose, like universities.
• In municipal law, ultra vires describes attempts at local legislation that go beyond the powers granted to those bodies. Within the federal system of the United States, municipal bodies are created by the several states, and have only those powers to legislate on local matters that are conferred by the state legislature; attempts by local governments to exceed those grants are ultra vires.