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
• district etc.

It is generally understood to mean a geographic area with an associated government at whatever level. In olden times body politic was also understood to mean the physical person of an emperor, king, dictator etc.

External link

• Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Analogy of the Body Politic (elaboration of correspondences between society or the state and the individual human body)