WASHINGTON - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

WASHINGTONAuthored

The Law Mind • 1072 words

Definition

Washington carries two distinct legal meanings in the Law Mind corpus:

1. State of Washington. One of the fifty states of the United States, admitted to the Union on November 11, 1889, by presidential proclamation following the Enabling Act of February 22, 1889. Washington was admitted on equal footing with the original states, meaning it entered with the same sovereign rights and constitutional standing as the thirteen founding states. It is located in the Pacific Northwest and should not be confused with the District of Columbia, which is a federal district and not a state.

2. Landmark case designation. "Washington" appears as the lead name in two constitutional and evidentiary cases of major importance — Crawford v. Washington and Washington v. Davis — each generating its own body of doctrine. These are discussed under WHY IT MATTERS IN RESEARCH below.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A U.S. one-dollar bill, which features a portrait of George Washington.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Washington was used primarily as a proper noun designating George Washington, first President of the United States, or the federal capital city named in his honor.

The common usage of "Washington" as a geographic or honorific proper noun creates no meaningful confusion in most legal research contexts. However, researchers should be alert to context: "Washington" in a constitutional law setting most often signals a case citation, not the state, while "Washington" in administrative or regulatory materials more often designates the state as a legal actor or jurisdiction.

Common Confusion

Three distinct referents share the name Washington and appear throughout the Law Mind corpus:

— State of Washington: A Pacific Northwest state with its own constitution, courts, legislature, and body of state law.
— Washington, D.C.: The federal District of Columbia, seat of the national government. It is not a state and has no voting representation in the Senate.
— Washington (case citation): The surname appears as a party name in landmark federal cases. Crawford v. Washington (2004) reordered Confrontation Clause doctrine. Washington v. Davis (1976) established the discriminatory purpose requirement under the Equal Protection Clause.

Conflating the state with the district is the most common research error. In primary sources and older secondary materials, "Washington" without a modifier may require context to resolve which referent is intended.

Why It Matters in Research

State of Washington as a legal actor. Researchers working in administrative law, environmental law, land use, or Pacific Northwest-specific topics will encounter the State of Washington as a party, a regulatory authority, or a source of persuasive common-law doctrine. Washington state courts have developed distinctive approaches in several areas, including community property, environmental regulation, and tribal sovereignty questions arising from treaty rights under federal law.

Equal footing doctrine. Bouvier's entry emphasizes that Washington was admitted on equal footing with the original states. This phrasing is not ceremonial — it carries constitutional weight. The equal footing doctrine affects questions of state sovereignty over lands, navigable waters, and submerged lands. Researchers tracing public lands disputes or water rights in Washington must understand that the state's admission terms are legally operative, not merely historical.

Crawford v. Washington. This 2006 U.S. Supreme Court decision fundamentally changed how courts analyze the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment. Prior to Crawford, the reliability-based test from Ohio v. Roberts governed. Crawford replaced that framework with a testimonial/non-testimonial distinction: testimonial out-of-court statements may not be admitted against a criminal defendant unless the declarant is unavailable and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine. Any researcher working in criminal evidence, hearsay, or constitutional criminal procedure must engage with this decision. Pre-Crawford materials in the corpus apply a different legal standard and should be read with that discontinuity in mind.

Washington v. Davis. This 1976 Supreme Court decision established that a facially neutral government policy does not violate the Equal Protection Clause merely because it produces racially disparate outcomes. Plaintiffs must demonstrate discriminatory purpose, not merely discriminatory impact. The decision is foundational to employment discrimination and constitutional equal protection analysis, and it must be read alongside Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. (1977), which elaborated the factors for proving discriminatory purpose. Researchers using pre-1976 equal protection materials in the corpus will find a different doctrinal landscape that did not yet incorporate this requirement.

Historical Dictionary Support

Bouvier's Law Dictionary entry on Washington is purely statehood-focused, recording the mechanics of admission under the 1889 Enabling Act and the presidential proclamation. It provides no case law, no reference to Washington's constitution, and no substantive legal doctrine. This is consistent with Bouvier's general approach to state entries, which function as brief historical records rather than substantive legal analyses.

The second Bouvier entry included in the source material concerns waste doctrine in wooded or new-country settings — it is not a Washington-specific entry and appears to have been associated with this term in error. It is not analyzed here.

What Bouvier's cannot provide — and what modern researchers most need — is any treatment of Washington's role as a case-name anchor for major constitutional doctrine. The entire Confrontation Clause revolution of Crawford and the discriminatory purpose framework of Washington v. Davis postdate Bouvier's by decades. Historical dictionary sources are silent on both.

Jurisdictional Note

Washington state applies community property law, placing it among a minority of U.S. jurisdictions. Its courts have also generated significant doctrine on treaty fishing rights, environmental land use, and the Washington Law Against Discrimination, which in some respects extends further than federal antidiscrimination law. Researchers should not assume that federal equal protection doctrine under Washington v. Davis maps identically onto Washington state constitutional or statutory claims.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

The Law Mind Constitutional Law Encyclopedia: "Discriminatory Purpose vs. Discriminatory Impact (Washington v. Davis, Village of Arlington Heights)" — essential for understanding the equal protection framework anchored by Washington v. Davis.

The Law Mind Civil Procedure & Evidence Encyclopedia: "The Confrontation Clause and Hearsay — Crawford v. Washington" — essential for understanding the testimonial hearsay doctrine that Crawford established.

WASHINGTONmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

One of the states of the United States of America. By the act February 22, 1889, the people of Wash- ington were enabled to form a constitution and state government, and be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states. Accord- ingly, after all the requirements had been complied with on November 11, 1889, the president by proc- lamation announced the admission of Washington into the Union.

WASHINGTONmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

not, for instance, be waste in an entire woodland country which would be so in cleared one. The clearing up of land for the purpose of tillage in a new country where trees abound is no injury to the in- heritance, but, on the contrary, is a bene- fit to the remainderman, so long as there is sufficient timber left and the land cleared bears a proper relative proportion to the whole tract; 4 Kent 316; 5 Watts 463; 6 T. B. Monr. 343; 26 Wend. 122; see 99 N. C. 583; 81 Mich. 832; where timber is grown for sale, cutting timber would be a "mode of cultivation." See L. R. 18 Eq. 309; [1891] 3 Ch. 206. The extent to which wood and timber on such land may be cut without waste is a question of fact for a jury; 7 Johns. 227. A tenant may always cut trees for the re- pair of the houses, fences, hedges, stiles, gates, and the like; Co. Litt. 58 b; 100 Ν. C. 41; 91 Ky. 533; and for making and re- pairing all instruments of husbandry; Wood, Inst. 344. See ESTOVERS. He may fell dead or dying timber; 110 Pa. 473; 11 Vt. 293. And he may, when unrestrained by the terms of the lease, cut timber for firewood, if there be not enough dead tim- ber for such purposes; Com. Dig. Waste (D5). But not ornamental trees or those planted for shelter; 6 Ves. Ch. 419; or to ex- clude objects from sight; 16 Ves. Ch. 375; 7 Ired. Eq. 197; 6 Barb. 9. He cannot pro- miscuously cut trees to make staves to be sold; 71 Wis. 336; nor railroad ties; 40 Mo. App. 515. It is waste for a tenant for life to neglect to pay the interest on a mortgage whereby the land was sold to the prejudice of the remainderman; 16 Hun 226; and so of a failure to pay taxes; 51 Me. 434; 59 Miss. 289; 59 Wis. 557; 25 id. 679.. Windfalls are the property of the land- lord; for whatever is severed by inevitable necessity, as, by a tempest, or by a tres- passer, and by wrong, belongs to him who has the inheritance; 3 P. Wms. 268; 11 Co. 81. In general, a tenant is answerable for waste although it is committed by a stranger; for he is the custodian of the property, and must take his remedy over; 2 Dougl. 745; 1 Taunt. 198; 1 Denio 104. Permissive waste to buildings consists in omitting to keep them in tenantable re- pair; suffering the timbers to become rot- ten by neglecting to cover the house; or suffering the walls to fall into decay for want of plastering, or the foundation to be injured by neglecting to turn off a stream of water, and the like; Co. Litt. 53 a. See 41 N. J. Eq. 130; 59 Miss. 289;

Washingtonnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.

A U.S. one-dollar bill, which features a portrait of George Washington.

Washingtonname

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

A state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Capital: Olympia. Largest city: Seattle. | Washington, D.C. (the capital city of the United States). | Washington, D.C. (the capital city of the United States). | District of Columbia (a district of the United States, coterminous with the city of Washington). | An English habitational surname from Old English. | An English habitational surname from Old English. | George Washington, the first president of the United States, and commanding general during its war of independence. | The federal government or administrative authority of the United States. From the capital city of Washington, D.C. | A placename: | A place in England: | A town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. | A placename: | A place in England: | A village and civil parish in Horsham district, West Sussex, England (OS grid ref TQ1212). | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A ghost town in Autauga County, Alabama. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A tiny city in Hempstead County, Arkansas. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A census-designated place in Nevada County, California. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A town in Litchfield County, Connecticut. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A small city, the county seat of Wilkes County, Georgia. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A city in Tazewell County, Illinois. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A city, the county seat of Daviess County, Indiana. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A small city, the county seat of Washington County, Iowa. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A small city, the county seat of Washington County, Kansas. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A neighborhood of the city of Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A village in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A town in Knox County, Maine. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A small town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | An unincorporated community in Macomb County, Michigan. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | An unincorporated community in Adams County, Mississippi. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A city in Franklin County, Missouri. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A village in Washington County, Nebraska. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A borough of Warren County, New Jersey. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A town in Dutchess County, New York. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A small city, the county seat of Beaufort County, North Carolina. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A small town in McClain County, Oklahoma, named for Caddo chief "Little Boy" Washington. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A city, the county seat of Washington County, Pennsylvania. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A city in Washington County, Utah. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A town in Orange County, Vermont. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A small town, the county seat of Rappahannock County, Virginia. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A census-designated place in Wood County, West Virginia. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A town in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A town in Shawano County, Wisconsin. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A town in Vilas County, Wisconsin. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A small town in Sauk County, Wisconsin. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A small town in La Crosse County, Wisconsin. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A small town in Green County, Wisconsin. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A small town in Rusk County, Wisconsin. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | An unincorporated community in Door County, Wisconsin. | A placename: | Several other locations in the United States, most of which are named for George Washington: | A large number of townships in the United States, listed under Washington Township. | A placename: | A community in Oxford County, Ontario, Canada. | A placename: | A community in Mahaica-Berbice, Guyana. | A placename: | Several locations in the Philippines: | A barangay of San Jacinto, Masbate, Philippines. | A placename: | Several locations in the Philippines: | A barangay of Escalante, Negros Occidental. | A placename: | Several locations in the Philippines: | A barangay of Catarman, Northern Samar, Philippines. | A placename: | Several locations in the Philippines: | A barangay of Surigao, Surigao del Norte. | A male given name transferred from the surname, popular during the first century of American independence, given in honor of George Washington. | Ellipsis of University of Washington.

washingtonnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Synonym of agawan base (a team game)

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