Federal district
Encyclopedia : F : FE : FED : Federal district
Federal districts are subdivisions of a federal system of government. Often, these districts are not one of the countries' component subdivisions, and should not be confused with them, but are rather separate entities under the direct control of the federal government. The seat of the federal government is often located in a Federal District, so that no single individual component can exercise undue influence over federal affairs.
Australia
In addition to the six self-governing states (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia), the Australian federation contains two self-governing territories, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Northern Territory. The ACT was created specifically to be the home of the federal capital, Canberra, in order to avoid situating the new nation's capital in either of New South Wales and Victoria, the two most populous states at the time of federation.
Although the ACT has its own Chief Minister and its own legislature, the Federal Parliament retains the right to over-rule ACT legislation. The ACT Parliament acts as a municipal government for the city of Canberra. The Governor-General of Australia exercises certain rights that in the states would be exercised by a state Governor and in the Northern Territory by the Administrator, such as the power to issue writs for elections.
At a federal level, the ACT elects two members of the House of Representatives and two Senators. Both Senators are elected at every election for the Senate, unlike the States, who elect half of their senators at every normal Senate election.
United States
The seat of the U.S. federal government in Washington is a federal district known as the District of Columbia. In addition, the U.S. government has several other kinds of "federal districts" which are not specifically related to a capital city:
- The federal court system divides each state, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, into one or more federal judicial districts; a United States District Court and a United States Bankruptcy Court are located in each. There are also federal judicial circuits, each consisting of a group of states (except for the District of Columbia Circuit which consists only of the federal district); Puerto Rico and the United States territorial courts are also assigned to circuits. Each circuit has a United States court of appeals.
- The U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve, consists of twelve banks located around the country; each of these banks serves a Federal Reserve district.
Other countries
The term Distrito Federal, meaning "Federal District" in both the Spanish and Portuguese languages, is used to refer to:
- Argentine Federal District, today the Autonomous city of Buenos Aires
- Brazilian Federal District
- Mexican Federal District
- Venezuelan Capital District
Other uses
There are seven Federal districts of Russia, which function as an additional administrative layer between other subdivisions and the Russian Federation as a whole. But these have nothing to do with the territory surrounding a capital city.
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