It depends, one might say, on just where the meaning of the word “reside” resides.

For over a year in West Virginia courtrooms, and longer than that among lawmakers and pundits, a debate has been bubbling about where the state’s governor spends his nights. Not that the facts are in much dispute: Most everyone concurs that Gov. Jim Justice does not spend them in Charleston, the capital. The question is whether that arrangement is allowed.

The debate returned to court this week, for a hearing in a lawsuit brought by a Democratic state lawmaker. The suit, which seeks a court order requiring the Republican governor to reside in Charleston, is based on a clause in the West Virginia Constitution, which declares that all state executive officials except for the attorney general shall “reside at the seat of government during their terms of office.”

Mr. Justice, the lawsuit says, “based on his own public admissions, has not spent more than a handful of nights, if any, at the West Virginia Governor’s Mansion.”

A billionaire who is commonly described as the richest man in West Virginia, Mr. Justice has made no secret of spending many if not most nights at his home in Lewisburg, a charming town more than 100 miles from the state capital. Lewisburg also happens to be near the Greenbrier, the 106-year-old mountain resort beloved of celebrities and presidents, which the Justice family acquired in 2009.