In California it is called the Judicial Township, and in parts of the Dakotas it is called the School Township.
In Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and parts of Illinois and Nebraska, it is called the Election Precinct, from the fact that it was the subdivision made for the convenience of voters.
In Georgia it is called the Militia District, from the fact that each subdivision furnished a certain proportionate number of men for the militia service of the State.
In Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia, it is called the Magisterial District, from the fact that it was constituted as the limit of the jurisdiction of a local magistrate.
In Louisiana it is called the Police Jury Ward, perhaps for the reason that from each one of these subdivisions a warden was elected to administer the parish government.
In Maryland and Wyoming it is called the Election District, from the fact that it was the subdivision made for the convenience of voters.
In Tennessee it is called the Civil District--probably, next to "town" or "township," the most fitting name for the smallest subdivision of civil government.
In Texas it is called the Justice's Precinct, as being the limit of a justice's jurisdiction.
In some of the New England States, also, districts which have not the entire town organization are provisionally called Plantations or Grants, being subject to the administration, in some local affairs, of other towns.
But under whatever name the civil unit may exist, it is the primary seat of government. In many cases the original reason for the name has disappeared, while the character of the government has greatly changed, and been modified and developed from the first crude forms.