Substance

This noun, and the corresponding adjective and adverb, substantial and substantially, are in frequent use. Thus, there are rules which affects a substantial right; that a certificate of acknowledgment is valid if the statute is substantially complied with. These uses do not Involve a departure from the vernacular meaning of " substance; " viz., the es.sential or important part; the material thing; that in and for which a thing chiefly exists; that which constitutes a thing what it is; its nature; its real essence. What is meant by the substance, in a given connection, is matter of construction varying with the nature of the subjectmatter. The decisions involving these words will be found to turn, not upon any peculiar significance of substance as a law term, but on the question, what is of the substance of a given aifair or transaction.