Strong’s # 1285, berît, is used 284 times. It is translated as covenant (264), league (17), confederacy (1), confederate (2). Examples include:
They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:
All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
Webster’s 1828 –
Confederacy, n. –
[From con (union) and federatio, a league. See Federal and Wed.]
1. A league, or covenant; a contract between two or more persons, bodies of men or states, combined in support of each other, in some act or enterprise; mutual engagement; federal compact.
2. The persons, states or nations united by a league.
3. In law, a combination of two or more persons to commit an unlawful act.
Confederate, a. –
1. United in a league; allied by treaty; engaged in a confederacy.
Confederate, n. –
1. One who is united with others in a league; a person or nation engaged in a confederacy; an ally.
Confederation, n. –
1. The act of confederating; a league, a compact for mutual support; alliance; particularly of princes, nations or states.
2. The United States of America are sometimes called the confederation.
Federal, a. –
1. Pertaining to a league or contract; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, particularly between nations.
2. Consisting in a compact between parties, particularly and chiefly between states or nations; founded on alliance by contract or mutual agreement; as a federal government, such as that of the United States.
3. Friendly to the constitution of the United States.
Federal, n. –
1. An appellation in America, given to the friends of the constitution of the United States, at its formation and adoption, and to the political party which favored the administration of President Washington.
Federate, a. –
1. Leagued; united by compact, as sovereignties; states or nations; joined in confederacy; as federate nations or powers.
Bouvier’s Dictionary of Law, 1856:Federation, n. –
1. The act of uniting in a league.
2. A league; a confederacy.
CONFEDERACY, intern. law.
1. An agreement between two or more states or nations, by which they unite for their mutual protection and good. This term is applied to such agreement between two independent nations, but it is used to signify the union of different states of the same nation, as the confederacy of the states.
2. The original thirteen states, in 1781, adopted for their federal government the "Articles of confederation and perpetual union between the States," which continued in force until the present constitution of the United States went into full operation, on the 30th day of April, 1789, when president Washington was sworn into office. Vide 1 Story on the Const. B. 2, c. 3 and 4.
CONFEDERACY, crim. law.
An agreement between two or more persons to do an unlawful act, or an act, which though not unlawful in itself, becomes so by the confederacy. The technical term usually employed to signify this offence, is conspiracy. (q. v.)
1. The name given to that form of government which the American colonies, on shaking off the British yoke, devised for their mutual safety and government.
2. The articles of confederation, (q. v.) were finally adopted on the 15th of November, 1777, and with the exception of Maryland, which, however, afterwards also agreed to them, were speedily adopted by the United States, and by which they were formed into a federal bod y, and went into force on the first day of March, 1781; 1 Story Const. §225; and so remained until the adoption of the present constitution, which acquired the force of the supreme law of the land on the first Wednesday of March, 1789. 5 Wheat. R. 420. Vide Articles of Confederation.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 1st Edition, 1891FEDERAL, government.
1. This term is commonly used to express a league or compact between two or more states.
2. In the United States the central government of the Union is federal. The constitution was adopted "to form a more perfect union" among the states, for the purpose of self protection and for the promotion of their mutual happiness.
CONFEDERACY.In criminal law.
The association or banding together of two or more persons for the purpose of committing an act or furthering an enterprise which is forbidden by law, or which, though lawful in itself, becomes unlawful when made the
object of the confederacy. Conspiracy is a more technical term for this offense.
The act of two or more who combine together to do any damage or injury to another, or to do any unlawful act. Jacob. See 52 How. Pr. 353; 41 Wis. 284.
In equity pleading. An improper combination alleged to have been entered into between the defendants to a bill in equity.
In international law. A league or agreement between two or more independent states whereby they unite for their mutual welfare and the furtherance of their common aims. The term may apply to a union so formed for a temporary or limited purpose, as in the case of an offensive and defensive alliance; but it is more commonly used to denote that species of political connection between two or more independent states by which a central government is created, invested with certain powers of sovereignty, (mostly external.) and acting upon the several component states as its units, which,however, retain their sovereign powers for domestic purposes and some others. See FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
A league or compact for mutual support, particularly of princes, nations, or states. Such was the colonial government during the Revolution.
In constitutional law. A term commonly used to express a league or compact between two or more states.
In American law. Belonging to the general government or union of the states. Founded on or organized under the constitution or laws of the United States.
The United States has been generally styled, in American political and judicial writings, a “federal government. " The term has not been imposed by any specific constitutional authority, but only expresses the general sense and opinion upon the nature of the form of government. In recent years, there is observable a disposition to employ
the term “national " in speaking of the government of the Union. Neither word settles anything to the nature or powers of the government. “Federal” is somewhat more appropriate if the government is considered a union of the states; “national" is preferable if the view is adopted that the state governments and the Union are two distinct systems, each established by the people directly, one for local and the other for national purposes. See 92 U. S. 542; Abbott.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 6th Edition, 1991FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
The system of government administered in a state formed by the union or confederation of several independent or quasi independent states; also the composite state so formed.
In strict usage, there is a distinction between a confederation and a federal government. The former term denotes a league or permanent alliance between several states, each of which is fully sovereign and independent, and each of which retains its full dignity, organization, and sovereignty, though yielding to the central authority a controlling power for a few limited purposes, such as external and diplomatic relations.
in this case, the component states are the units, with respect to the confederation, and the central government acts upon them. not upon the individual citizens. In a federal government, on the other hand, the allied states form a union,—-not, indeed, to such an extent as to destroy their separate organization or deprive them of quasi sovereignty with respect to the administration of their purely local concerns, but so that the central power is erected into a true state or nation, possessing sovereignty both external and internal —while the administration of national affairs is directed, and its effects felt, not by the separate states deliberating as units, but by the people of all, in their collective capacity, as citizens of the nation. The distinction is expressed, by the German writers, by the use of the two words “Staatenbund” and “Bundesstaat,” the former denoting a league or confederation of states, and the latter a federal government, or state formed by means of a league or confederation.
1. The association or banding together of two or more persons for the purpose of committing an act or furthering an enterprise which is forbidden by law, or which, though lawful in itself, becomes unlawful when made the object of the confederacy. More commonly called a “conspiracy.”
2. A league or agreement between two or more independent states whereby they unite for their mutual welfare and the furtherance of their common aims. The term may apply to a union so formed for a temporary or limited purpose, as in the case of an offensive and defensive alliance; but it is more commonly used to denote that species of political connection between two or more independent states by which a central government is created, invested with certain powers of sovereignty (mostly external), and acting upon the several component states as its units, which, however, retain their sovereign powers for domestic purposes and some others.
A league or compact for mutual support, particularly of nations or states. Such was the colonial government during the Revolution.