parish

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  1. An area served by a particular church; an ecclesiastical district.

  2. In the U.S. state of Louisiana, a government sub-unit; the equivalent of a county. It administers the governance of a portion of the state and part of the state power are delegated to the parish. See State ex rel. Centani v. Marrero. As delegated bodies of the state, the Louisiana constitution provides that the state legislature may dissolve, alter the boundaries of, or create new parishes. LA State Constitution Art. VI § 1. The term derives from Louisiana’s Spanish and French history, when it was Roman Catholic. 

[Last updated in August of 2020 by the Wex Definitions Team]