POLITICAL

7 definitions found across Law Mind sources

POLITICALAuthored
The Law Mind • 1214 words
Definition
As a legal adjective, "political" describes matters pertaining to the formation, structure, administration, or exercise of government power, or to the relationship between a citizen and the state as a governing body. It does not carry a partisan connotation in legal usage; rather, it identifies a category of rights, entities, questions, and functions that belong to the domain of public governance rather than private relations between individuals. Two core legal applications: 1. Political rights. Rights exercisable in relation to the government itself — principally the right to vote, hold office, and participate in the selection and administration of government. Distinguished from civil rights, which govern relations between private persons. A person may possess civil rights while being denied political rights (as was historically the case for women, formerly enslaved persons, and non-citizens). 2. Political corporations and functions. Government entities or delegated bodies whose primary object is the administration of public affairs — counties, municipalities, and similar bodies — as distinguished from private corporations organized for commercial purposes. A political function is one tied to sovereign governance, a distinction that carries weight in immunity doctrine and the law of government liability. A third usage emerges from constitutional doctrine: "political" as a term of limitation. The political question doctrine identifies categories of constitutional questions that federal courts treat as committed to the political branches and therefore non-justiciable. Here, "political" means not merely governmental but specifically assigned by the Constitution to Congress or the Executive, beyond judicial resolution.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Concerning or relating to politics, the art and process of governing; also, inappropriately motivated by political calculation, power dynamics, or ideological interest. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Of or pertaining to public policy, or to politics; relating to affairs of state or administration; also, politic; wise; or artful. The ordinary English sense of "political" has drifted toward partisan connotation — decisions described as "political" in everyday speech are often criticized as self-interested or ideologically driven rather than principled. Legal usage does not carry this charge. In law, "political" is a classificatory term, not a pejorative. A "political question" is not one tainted by bias; it is one the Constitution commits to non-judicial actors. A researcher importing the common pejorative sense into legal texts will systematically misread judicial and legislative materials.
Common Confusion
Political rights vs. civil rights. These terms are frequently collapsed in historical sources and popular usage. Bouvier draws the line clearly: political rights concern a person's relationship to the government and participation in its formation; civil rights concern a person's legal standing relative to other individuals. The confusion intensifies in Reconstruction-era and early civil rights materials, where authors sometimes used the terms interchangeably or with idiosyncratic definitions. A researcher reading mid-nineteenth-century sources should not assume consistent usage. Political question vs. political controversy. Not every dispute involving government or elections is a "political question" in the technical, justiciability sense. The political question doctrine is a narrow, doctrine-specific rule. Conflating it with the general notion that a case involves political subject matter is a significant research error.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES Political rights. The cluster of rights — suffrage, eligibility for office, jury service in some formulations — that attach to civic membership and participation in self-governance. Political corporation. A governmental or quasi-governmental entity whose primary purpose is public administration, as distinguished from a private or eleemosynary corporation. Political question. A matter held non-justiciable because the Constitution commits its resolution to the legislative or executive branch, or because there are no judicially manageable standards for its resolution. Political offense. In extradition law, a category of crime — typically one committed in connection with a political uprising or conflict — that many treaties exempt from extradition obligations.
Why It Matters in Research
The word "political" appears across nearly every domain of public law, but its legal weight shifts dramatically by context. A researcher must determine which sense governs: (1) the rights-classification sense (political vs. civil rights), (2) the entity-classification sense (political corporation vs. private entity), (3) the justiciability sense (political question doctrine), or (4) the extradition sense (political offense). Treating these as interchangeable will produce unreliable research. Historical sources are particularly treacherous. Nineteenth-century treatises and cases used "political rights" with varying scope — sometimes including rights now classified as civil, sometimes excluding rights we now consider fundamental. The Reconstruction amendments and their implementing statutes were debated and litigated in part through arguments about which rights were "political" and which were "civil," with real consequences for who could claim federal protection. Reading those sources requires attention to the specific doctrinal stakes of the classification at the time. The political question doctrine has undergone significant development since the early republic. Baker v. Carr (1962) restructured the doctrine substantially, and researchers should not read pre-1962 political question cases through the post-Baker framework without care. Conversely, post-Baker doctrine may not map well onto early cases that used "political question" more loosely to mean simply a matter of executive or legislative prerogative. In government liability and immunity research, the distinction between "political" or "governmental" functions and "proprietary" functions determines whether immunity attaches. This distinction was historically applied to municipal corporations and remains significant in state tort claims contexts. The terminology in historical cases may not align with modern formulations.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary and Bouvier agree on the foundational definition: "political" pertains to policy and the administration of government, and a political corporation is one whose primary object is governmental administration. Bouvier's distinction between political and civil rights is precise and useful for research: political rights relate to the individual's participation in government; civil rights relate to the individual's position relative to other persons. The historical dictionaries do not address the political question doctrine as a developed justiciability rule — that doctrine's modern form postdates the primary editions of both Bouvier and early Black's. Researchers consulting these sources for political question analysis will find the scaffolding absent. Similarly, the extradition sense of "political offense" is not developed in the dictionary entries available here. Rapalje & Lawrence and the secondary Bouvier excerpts provided contain material on insurance policy terms rather than the adjective "political" — these appear to be indexing artifacts and carry no weight for this entry.
Jurisdictional Note
The political rights / civil rights distinction has different doctrinal valence at the state and federal levels. Some state constitutions use these categories with definitions that diverge from federal usage. In extradition law, the scope of the political offense exception varies by treaty and has been interpreted differently across federal circuits.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
The Political Question Doctrine (The Law Mind Constitutional Law Encyclopedia) Political Speech and Campaign Finance: Buckley, Citizens United, McCutcheon (The Law Mind Constitutional Law Encyclopedia) The Right of Association — Political, Expressive, and Intimate (The Law Mind Constitutional Law Encyclopedia)
Related Terms
Civil rights — Political question doctrine — Political corporation — Municipal corporation — Governmental function — Proprietary function — Political offense (extradition) — Suffrage — Justiciability — Non-justiciable — Political rights — Civil liberties — Sovereign immunity — Public law
POLITICALmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
Pertaining to policy or the administration of the government. A political corporation is one which has principally for its object the administration of the government, or to which the powers of government, or a part of such powers, have been delegated. 1 Bouv. Inst. no. 182.
POLITICALmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
between the assured and the underwriter, but is left to be estimated in case of loss. The term is opposed to “valued policy,” in which the value of the subject insured is fixed for the urpose of the insurance, and expressed on the ace of the policy. Mozley & Whitley. Rig v. Fire Protection Ass’n, 61 S. C. 448, 39 8. E. 614; Cox v. Insurance Co., 3 Rich. Law, 331, 45 Am. Dec. 771; Insurance Co. v. Butler, 38 Ohio St. 128 But this term is also sometimes used in America to describe a policy in which an aggregate amount is expressed in the body of the policy, and the specific amounts . and subjects are to be indorsed from time te time. London Assur. Corp. v. Paterson, 106 Ga. 588, 32 S. E. 650.—Paid-up policy: Tn life insurdnce. A policy on which no further payments are to be made in the way of annual premiums.Time policy. In fire insurance, one made for a defined and limited time, as, one year. In marine insurance, one made for a particular period of time, irrespective of the voyage or voyages upon which the vessel may engaged during that period. Wilkins v. To bacco Ins. Co., 30 Ohio St. 339. 27 Am. Rep. 455; Greenleaf v. St. Louis Ins. Co., 37 Mo. 29.—Valued policy. One in which the value of the thing insured is settled by agreement between the parties and inserted in the policy. Cushman y. Insurance Co., 34 Me. 491; Riggs v. Insurance Co., 61 8. C. 448, 89 S. E. 614; Luce v. Insurance Co.. 15 Fed. Cas. 1071.— vereee olicy. A policy of marine insurance effect or a particular voyage or voyages of the vessel, and not otherwise limited as to time. Wilkins v. Tobacco Ins. Co., 30 Ohio St. 339, 27 Am. Rep. 455.—Wager policy. An insur ance upon a subject-matter in which the party assured has no real, valuable, or insurable interest. A mere wager policy is that in which the party assured has no interest in the thing assured, and could sustain no possible loss by the event insured against, if he had not made such wager. Sawyer v. Insurance Co.. 87 Wis. 539: Iembler v. Insurance Co., 8 App. Div. 188, 40 N. Y. Supp. 450; Amory v. Gilman, 2 Mass. 1; Gambs v. Insurance Co., 50 Mo. 47. Politiss legibus non leges politiis adaptandse. Politics are to be adapted to the laws, and not the laws to politics. Hob. 154. Pertaining or relating to the policy or the administration of government, state or national. See People v. Mor gan, 90 Ill. 558; In re Kemp, 16 Wis. 396. —Political arithmetic. An expression sometimes used to signify the art of making calculations on matters relating to a nation; the revenues, the value of Iand and effects; the produce of lands and manufactures; the population, and the general statistics of a country. Wharton. —Political corporation. A public or munic ipal corporation; one created for political pur poses, and having for its object the administration of governmental powers of a subordinate or local nature. Winspear v. Holman Dist. Tp., 37 Iowa. 544; Auryansen v. Hackensack Imp. Com'n, 49 N. J. Law. 115; Curry v. District Tp.. 62 Iowa, 102, 17 N. W. 191.—Political economy. The science which describes the methods and laws of the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth, and treats of economic and industrial conditions and laws, and the rules and principles of rent. wages, capital, Inabor, exchanges, money, population, etc. The science which determines what laws men ought to adopt in order that they may, with the least poesible exertion, procure the greatest abundance of things useful for the satisfaction of their wants, may distribute them justly. and consume them rationally. De Laveleye, Pol. Econ. The actence which treats of the administration of the revenues of a nation, or the management and regulation of its resources, and productive property and, labor. Wharton.—Political law. That branch of jurisprudence which treats of the science of politics, or the organization and administration of government.—Political lib~ erty. See LIBERTY.—Political offenses. As a designation of a class of crimes usually excepted from extradition treaties, this term denotes crimes which are incidental to and form a part of political disturbances; but it might also be understood to include offenses consisting in an attack upon the political order of things established in the country where committed, and even to include offenses committed to obtain any political object. 2 Steph. Crim. Law, %7%0.—Political office. See OFFICE.— Political questions. Questions of which the courts of justice will refuse to take cognizance, or to decide, on account of their purely political character, or because their determination would involve an encroachment upon the executive or legislative powers;e. g., what sort of government exists in a state, whether peace or war exists, whether a foreign country has become an {ndependent state, etc. Luther v. Borden, 7 How. 1, 12 L. Ed. 581; Kenneth v. Chambers, 14 How. 38, 14 L. Ed. 316; U. S. v. 129 Packages, Fed. Cas. No. 15,941.—Political rights. Those which may be exercised in the formation or administration of the government. People v. Morgan, 90 IJ. 563. Rights of citizens established or recognized by constitutions which give them the power to aperncets directly or indirectly in the establishment or administration of government. People v. Barrett, 203 Il. 90, 67 N. B. 742. 96 Am. St. Rep. 296; People vy. Washington. 36 Cal. 662; Winnett v. Adams, 71 Neb. 817, 99 N. W. 684.
POLITICALmain
Rapalje & Lawrence • 1883
(972) (q. v.) or immorality (q. v.) Thus, trading is in effect a time policy with the voyage with an enemy without license from the specified. Id. 345. crown (Potts v. Bell, 8 T. R. 548), marriage 25. "Interest or no interest," or brokerage contracts (Cole v. Gibson, 1 Ves. wager policies. --Before the acts forbid503), and agreements in general restraint ding insurances by persons having no inof marriage or trade (q. v.) are instances of acts against public policy. Mitchel v. Reynolds, 1 Sm. Lead. Cas. 356; 2 White & T. Lead. Cas. 125; Egerton v. Brounlow, 4 H. L. Cas. 1. For further details, see Chitty, ubi supra; Poll. Cont. 251 et seq. 3. Policy of the law. -The "policy of the law" seems to be the same thing as public policy. 4. Policy of a statute. -The "policy of a statute," or "of the legislature," as applied to a penal or prohibitive statute, means the intention of discouraging conduct of a mischievous tendency. See Barton v. Muir, L. R. 6 P. C. 134; Bensley v. Bignold, 5 Barn. & Ald. 3357 Poll. Cont. 235. See, also, MALA IN SE.
POLITICALa.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
Having, or conforming to, a settled system of administration. [R.] "A political government." Evelyn. Of or pertaining to public policy, or to politics; relating to affairs of state or administration; as, a political writer. "The political state of Europe." Paley. Of or pertaining to a party, or to parties, in the state; as, his political relations were with the Whigs. Politic; wise; also, artful. [Obs.] Sterne. Political economy, that branch of political science or philosophy which treats of the sources, and methods of production and preservation, of the material wealth and prosperity of nations.
politicaladj
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
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Concerning or relating to politics, the art and process of governing. | Concerning a polity or its administrative components. | Inappropriately motivated by political calculation, as it pertains to elections, power dynamics, ideologies, etc. | Of or relating to views about social relationships that involve power, standing, influence or conflict. | Interested in politics.
politicalnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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A political agent or officer. | A publication focusing on politics. | A political prisoner.

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