Body politic

Body politic

Body politic or body corporate and politic means a state or one of its subordinate civil authorities, such as a province, prefecture, county, municipality, city or district. It is generally understood to mean a geographic area with an associated government at whatever level. In previous centuries "body politic" was also understood to mean the physical person of the sovereign. (In monarchies and despotisms the person of the emperor, the king, the dictator, etc and in republics, the electorate.) It can now also mean representative of the ethnic/gender demographics of a region. For example, in many liberal democracies, cabinets are chosen to represent the body politic.

ee also

*Entity
*Polity

External links

* [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-11 "Dictionary of the History of Ideas":] Analogy of the Body Politic (elaboration of correspondences between society or the state and the individual human body)


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  • Body politic — Body Bod y, n.; pl. {Bodies}. [OE. bodi, AS. bodig; akin to OHG. botah. [root]257. Cf. {Bodice}.] [1913 Webster] 1. The material organized substance of an animal, whether living or dead, as distinguished from the spirit, or vital principle; the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • body politic — body pol·i·tic / pä lə tik/ n pl bod·ies politic: a group of individuals organized under a single governmental authority Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996. body politic …   Law dictionary

  • body politic — A group of people organised under a single government or authority (national or regional) is a body politic …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • body politic — n [singular] formal all the people in a nation forming a state under the control of a single government …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • body politic — ► NOUN ▪ the people of a nation or society considered as an organized group of citizens …   English terms dictionary

  • body politic — n. the people who collectively constitute a political unit under a government …   English World dictionary

  • body politic — noun a politically organized body of people under a single government the state has elected a new president African nations students who had come to the nation s capitol the country s largest manufacturer an industrialized land • Syn: ↑state, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • body politic — N SING: usu the N The body politic is all the people of a nation when they are considered as a complete political group. [FORMAL] Unfortunately, this sense of internationalism has yet to spread through the body politic. Syn: state …   English dictionary

  • body politic —    A group of people organised under a single government or authority (national or regional) is a body politic.   (Dorking School Dictionary) …   English Idioms & idiomatic expressions

  • body politic, the — noun FORMAL all the people of a nation considered as a single group because of their combined political power …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

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