Manufacture transformation principle: statutory definitions cover transformation, incidental processes and persons producing excisable goods under excise law. The legal meaning of manufacture centers on a transformation test: doing by labour or machinery that yields a new article with a distinctive name, character or use. Statutory excise law extends manufacture to processes incidental or ancillary to completion, processes specified in tariff or by notification, and constru es 'manufacturer' to include persons producing excisable goods on their own account as well as employers of hired labour.