Important Legal Definitions

A doctrine of constitutional interpretation used under Article 246 to resolve legislative competence disputes under the Seventh Schedule, looking at the true nature and essence of a law rather than its incidental encroachment into another legislative list.

In Prafulla Kumar Mukherjee v. Bank of Commerce, a Bengal provincial moneylending statute was challenged for regulating promissory notes (a Central subject); the Privy Council upheld the law because its true pith and substance was agricultural debt relief (a Provincial subject).