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Please let us know) As a noun, a people permanently occupying a fixed territory bound together by common habits and custom into one body politic exercising, through the medium of an organized government, independent sovereignty and control over all persons and things within its boundaries, capable of making war and peace and of entering into international relations with other states. The section of territory occupied by one of the United States. The people of a state, in their collective capacity, considered as the party wronged by a criminal deed; the public; as in the title of a case, "The State v. A. B." The circumstances or condition of a being or thing at a given time. As a verb, to express the particulars of a thing in writing or in words; to set down or set forth in detail; to aver, allege, or declare. To set down in gross; to mention in general terms, or by way of reference; to refer. West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. state n. 1) the Federal or state government and any of its departments, agencies or components (such as a city, county, or board). 2) any of the 50 states comprising the United States. 3) a nation's government. Copyright 1981-2005 by Gerald N. Hill and Kathleen T. Hill. All Right reserved. state (Condition), noun appearance, aspect, class, complexion, disposition, grade, mien, mood, plight, position, posture, predicament, shape, situation, standing, station, status, way Associated concepts: state of mindstate (Political unit), noun body politic, civil commuuity, civitas, commonwealth, governmental unit, mandated territory, nation, political division, polity, sovereign unit Associated concepts: state's evidence, state's rights Foreign phrases: Privilegium non valet contra rempubliiam.A privilege is of no avail against the state.See also: acknowledge, adduce, allege, annunciate, aspect, assert, avouch, avow, caliber, case, claim, comment, communicate, contend, converse, convey, declare, disabuse, disclose, enunciate, exposit, express, inform, interject, issue, maintain, mention, notify, observe, period, phase, phrase, plead, plight, polity, pose, posit, position, posture, predicament, proclaim, profess, pronounce, propound, public, publish, purport, quagmire, quality, recite, recount, relate, remark, remind, report, signify, situation, speak, status, stipulate, swear, tell, testify, utter, verify Burton's Legal Thesaurus, 4E. Copyright 2007 by William C. Burton. Used with permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. STATE, government. This word is used in various senses. In its most enlarged sense, it signifies a self-sufficient body of persons united together in one community for the defence of their rights, and to do right and justice to foreigners. In this sense, the state means the whole people united into one body politic; (q.v.) and the state, and the people of the state, are equivalent expressions. 1 Pet. Cond. Rep. 37 to 39; 3 Dall. 93; 2 Dall. 425; 2 Wilson's Lect. 120; Dane's Appx. Sec. 50, p. 63 1 Story, Const. Sec. 361. In a more limited sense, the word `state' expresses merely the positive or actual organization of the legislative, or judicial powers; thus the actual government of the state is designated by the name of the state; hence the expression, the state has passed such a law, or prohibited such an act. State also means the section of territory occupied by a state, as the state of Pennsylvania. 2. By the word state is also meant, more particularly, one of the commonwealths which form the

United States of America. The constitution of the United States makes the following provisions in relation to the states. 3. Art. 1, s. 9, Sec. 5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another, nor shall vessels bound to or from one state be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another. 4.-Sec. 6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time. 5.-Sec. 7. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, without the consent of congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever, from, any king, prince, or foreign state. 6.-Art. 1, s. 10, Sec. 1. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payments of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex-post-facto, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility. 7.-Sec. 2. No state shall, without the consent of congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts laid by any state on imports or exports shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States, and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of congress. No state, shall, without the consent of congress, lay any duty on tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. 8. The district of Columbia and the territorial districts of the United States, are not states within the meaning of the constitution and of the judiciary act, so as to enable a citizen thereof to sue a citizen of one of the states in the federal courts. 2 Cranch, 445; 1 Wheat. 91. 9. The several states composing the United States are sovereign and independent, in all things not surrendered to the national government by the constitution, and are considered, on general principles, by each other as foreign states, yet their mutual relations are rather those of domestic independence, than of foreign alienation. 7 Cranch, 481; 3 Wheat. 324; 1 Greenl. Ev. Sec. 489, 504. Vide, generally, Mr. Madison's report in the legislature of Virginia, January, 1800; 1 Story's Com. on Const. Sec. 208; 1 Kent, Com. 189, note b; Grotius, B. 1, c. 1, s. 14; Id. B. 3, c. 3, s. 2; Burlamaqui, vol. 2, pt. 1, c. 4, s. 9; Vattel, B. 1, c. 1; 1 Toull. n. 202, note 1 Nation; Cicer. de Repub. 1. 1, s. 25. STATE, condition of persons. This word has various acceptations. If we inquire into its origin, it will be found to come from the Latin status, which is derived from the verb stare, sto, whence has been made statio, which signifies the place where a person is located, stat, to fulfill the obligations which are imposed upon him. 2. State is that quality which belongs to a person in society, and which secures to, and imposes upon him different rights and duties in consequence of the difference of that quality. 3. Although all men come from the hands of nature upon an equality, yet there are among them marked differences. It is from nature that come the distinctions of the sexes, fathers and children, of age and youth, &c. 4. The civil or municipal laws of each people, have added to these natural qualities, distinctions which are purely civil and arbitrary, founded on the manners of the people, or in the will of the legislature. Such are the differences, which these laws have established between citizens and aliens, between magistrates and subjects, and between freemen and slaves; and those which exist in some countries between nobles and plebeians, which differences are either unknown or contrary to natural law. 5. Although these latter distinctions are more particularly subject to the civil or municipal law, because to it they owe their origin, it nevertheless extends its authority over the natural qualities, not to destroy or to weaken them, but to confirm them and to render them more inviolable by positive rules and by certain maxims. This union of the civil or municipal and natural law, form among men a third species of differences which may be called mixed, because they participate of

both, and derive their principles from nature and the perfection of the law; for example, infancy or the privileges which belong to it, have their foundation in natural law; but the age and the term of these prerogatives are determined by the civil or municipal law. 6. Three sorts of different qualities which form the state or condition of men may then be distinguished: those which are purely natural, those purely civil, and those which are composed of the natural and civil or municipal law. Vide 3 Bl. Com. 396; 1 Toull. n. 170, 171; Civil State. ntities that have a defined territory and a permanent population, that are under the control of their own government, and that engage in, or have the capacity to engage in, formal relations with other such entities." These words were used by Justice Oakes of the United States Court of Appeals, to define state in Klinghoffer v. SNC Achille Lauro. In Matter of Beagle, Justice Lynch of the Supreme Court of New York suggested: "(A) State is a body politic or a society of men. In a geographical sense, a State is that territory over which the particular body politic exercises sovereignty." Iceland A term of international law; an independent country with standing in international law such as by membership in the United Nations, recognition by other states and adherence to international treaties. An example would be Iceland (map, pictured). Farley wrote: "States are the recognized actors in international politics - not nations. "Nations (typically ethnic groups each with a common language and a common sense of community) differ from states in one vitally important way: states possess the attribute of sovereignty. "Nationhood is a demographic and psychological phenomenon; statehood is a formal-legal phenomenon. Only states, that is, possessors of sovereignty, may become members of the state system." The 1933 Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (aka Montevideo Convention) specifically defines statehood, at 1 as: "The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a permanent population; a defined territory; government; and capacity to enter into relations with the other states." In Estates of Ungar v. Palestinian Authority, Justice Lagueux of the United States District Court (Rhode Island) wrote: "Only States enjoy sovereign immunity.... International law determines statehood. The 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States sets forth the legal standard for evaluating an entity's claim to statehood. Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (entered into force Dec. 26, 1934, hereinafter "Montevideo Convention"). Under the Montevideo Convention, an entity is a State when it possesses: (1) a permanent population; (2 )a defined territory; (3 )a government and (4) the capacity to enter into relations with other states. The United States adopted these criteria ... Federal courts consistently apply the four criteria to determine whether or not an entity is a State and thus qualifies for the protections of sovereign immunity." But international law wavers on this somewhat circular definition, historically relying on neat numbered lists such as the 1933 sample above, other times considering an applicant for

recognition as a state against criteria of permanence, compliance with international law, civilization, legal order and recognition by other established states. Farley adds that: "Sovereign states ... have three absolute prerogatives: independence, equality and unanimity. Independence means a state is completely free to organize any system of government, proclaim an official religion of its choice, and structure its economy as it sees fit. No outside state ... has any right to interfere in these strictly internal matters. Equality means every state is of equal rank with every other state.... Unanimity means that no state is bound by the majority decisions reached by groups of states. A state is bound only if it agrees to be bound. Even then, a state exercising the principle of rebus sic stantibus (changed circumstances) may later renege on an agreement." Confusing to laypersons, within domestic constitutional law, and in some states, the term refers to smaller geographical and political units, not having international law presence but exercising limited local jurisdictions within its borders. For example, the United "States" of America is comprised of 50 states; yet the USA is a state and a nation for the purposes of international law, the United Nations, and towards other such states, of which the UN is comprised of 192 "states". State Definition: Groups of people which have acquired international recognition as an independent country and which have a population, a common language and a defined and distinct territory.