Taxes not to be imposed save by authority of law
included in editionWhat does this mean?
A tax can be imposed or collected only under authority of law. An administrative demand alone is not a substitute for a lawful taxing basis.
Taxes, government funds, financial sharing, property, borrowing, contracts and legal proceedings.
A tax demand should identify the law that authorises the charge and collection.
Why is this provision here?
Taxation is coercive public power and requires legal authority, supporting accountability for both imposition and collection.
This Article number belongs to the original constitutional framework, but its present wording may include later amendments or substitutions. A provision-specific original Assembly debate has not been verified here. The explanation of function above is editorial inference from the text, not an attributed single motive of the framers. The original draft-making archive is a research resource, not proof of a particular historical reason.
The explanation of purpose is an editorial reading of the provision. A drafting motive is attributed only where a linked historical source supports it.
Limits, exceptions & reading carefully
Educational summary of the linked source text. Exceptions, provisos, implementing laws and applicable judgments must be read before applying it to a real case.
Read the official constitutional text
Source-page notes · may concern neighbouring Articles
1 Subs. by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956, s. 29 and Sch., for art. 264 (w.e.f. 1-11-1956).
Extracted from the Legislative Department’s May 2026 edition. Page footnotes may refer to neighbouring provisions; check their markers in the PDF. Inclusion in this edition does not by itself establish commencement or judicial effect.