Gravamen Definition: The material part or essence of a charge, grievance or complaint. In R v Bircham, Judge Kopstein used these words to define gravamen: "... the substantial grievance or complaint in a sense broader than the strict legal sense." REFERENCES: R v Bircham [1978] 3 WWR 550 at page 554 (MBPC, 1978) Categories & Topics: Criminal Law Dictionary Find you are constantly looking up definitions? Try our search provider (works in most modern browsers) If you find an error or omission in Duhaime's Legal Dictionary, or if you have legal term suggestion, we'd love to hear from you!