vires

1. (law) the state of being either ultra vires or intra vires; the extent of a court's, legislature's, or other government entity's jurisdiction to do something.Examples: "The → United Kingdom, in particular, argued that the adoption of universally applicable rules for determining the law applicable to non-contractual obligations was not necessary for the proper functioning of the Internal Market and that some territorial restriction on the situations to which the Regulation’s rules would apply was appropriate. Although that position was apparently supported by a legal opinion given by the Council’s legal service (Opinion of the Council Legal Service on the proposal for a Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (“ROME II”) of 2 March 2004, 7015/04), the Commission, with the support of the vast majority of Member States, fiercely resisted limits of this kind. Its wish ultimately prevailed, and a challenge to the vires of the Regulation now appears a remote prospect given the broadening of EU competence in the area of justice by the Lisbon Treaty (see now art 81 TFEU)."