Bürgergemeinde

The Bürgergemeinde (also Burgergemeinde, Ortsgemeinde, Ortsbürgergemeinde, Tagwen, bourgeoisie, commune bourgeoise, vischnanca burgaisa, English: Citizen's Community) is a statutory corporation in public law in Switzerland. It includes all individuals who are citizens of the Bürgergemeinde, usually by having inherited the Bürgerrecht (citizenship), regardless of where they were born or where they may currently live. Instead of the place of birth, Swiss legal documents, e.g. passports, contain the Bürgerort (place of citizenship). The Bürgergemeinde also often holds and administers the common property in the village for the members of the community. The political communes or municipalities, the parish and the Bürgergemeinde often include the same area but have different focuses. With the increase in mobility since the first half of the 19th century, the Bürgergemeinde and the rights associated with citizenship in the community have lost most of their meaning. Today, in Switzerland there are nearly 2000 Bürgergemeinden and corporations.

The Bürgergemeinde is known by different names in individual cantons. These names include: bourgeoisie (in Valais and Fribourg), commune bourgeois in Jura, Burgergemeinde (Bern, Valais), Ortsbürgergemeinde (Uri, Aargau), Ortsgemeinde (St. Gallen, Thurgau), vischnanca burgaisa (Graubünden) or Tagwen (Glarus). In Ticino, they are called patriziati, which emerged from the so-called vicinanze and are their legal successor. In the cantons of Nidwalden, Schwyz, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Neuchâtel, Geneva, and Vaud there are no Bürgergemeinden (the political communes handle the associated responsibilities; however, citizenship of the Bürgerort resp. Heimatort is still inherited). In Nidwalden, Schwyz, and Appenzell Innerrhoden, however, there are privately organized corporations (German: Korporationsgemeinde) that operate in much the same way.

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