Stand Montafon
The Montafon stand is an association of ten Montafon municipalities and serves to coordinate and organize the areas of regional development, transport, social affairs, the environment, culture, education and business. The Montafon sewage association and the management of the common forest property are also organized under the roof of the Montafon stand.
history
The Vorarlberg estates
The term Stand Montafon goes back to the time of the Vorarlberg regional estates of the Middle Ages . The estates, which had existed since the 14th century, were then the general representative body of the country. The state constitution reached its climax around the year 1604. The decline of the estate power was brought about by the Thirty Years' War . The final fall was sealed by the rule of Bavaria (1806–1814) and the transition to absolutism .
At the time of the height of the estate development, the four lords in front of the Arlberg , which at that time essentially represented the area of today's Vorarlberg , included the three cities of Feldkirch , Bregenz and Bludenz and 21 courts. Since the three cities were also counted among the courts, one spoke of 24 courts or 24 stands.
With the fall of the Estates constitution, the concept of the Estates also faded in the country. In the Montafon , however, after reunification with Austria in 1814, the municipalities were responsible for regulating common matters, such as B. forest topics, road and bridge construction, path and Wuhr buildings, a so-called professional representative. This facility has only survived to this day in the Montafon. Decisive for this were certainly the relative seclusion of the valley, the old legal tradition and the constant disputes with Bludenz in the effort to get their own market and their own court. The decisive moment, however, was probably the acquisition of the state forest property in 1832, which required the joint management and use of the forests.
The belonging municipalities are:
The Standeswaldungen
Even Emperor Maximilian had all the forests in the Montafon Valley, where no one could prove a private legal title for the state (the Aerar taken) as Amtswaldungen possession. The rights of the valley inhabitants to these official forests were recorded in the Montafon country custom. The valley dwellers were entitled to obtain the necessary timber and firewood for their house and property needs from the forests.
However, the communities in the valley always endeavored to regain their possession of the official forests. Since the condition of the forest was evidently bad and there was hardly any income for the state and there were also repeated differences between the municipalities and the Arar, negotiations were carried out on a fundamental settlement of the property question.
These negotiations about the official forest in the Montafon were conducted between the representatives of the state and the heads of the eight communities of St. Anton , Bartholomäberg , Silbertal , Schruns , St. Gallenkirch , Gaschurn , Tschagguns and Vandans . The municipality of Lorüns and Stallehr , which at that time belonged to Lorüns, were not involved in the negotiations because they shared a forest use with the city of Bludenz.
As early as 1825, negotiations began before the Montafon Regional Court . However, due to lengthy negotiations, the contract was only signed on April 12, 1832.
Since then, a distinction has been made between the
- Stand Montafon as the embodiment of the ten communities in the valley (with Lorüns and Stallehr) and the
- Stand Montafon Forest Fund , to which only the eight municipalities belong, which at the time acquired the more than 8,000 hectares of official forests from the Arar.
The estates as representative of the people
In contrast to other countries, where the nobility and clergy were also represented in the estates, the state estates in Vorarlberg only represented citizens and farmers. The estates had various forms of meetings, in which the state democracy was realized at that time. The most important form of meetings were the so-called state parliaments, which were announced by the sovereign and dealt with affairs of the empire. The main points of negotiation at the state parliaments were the approval of funds and the provision of troops for the sovereign. The estates had a very strong position here. which they knew how to use skillfully, each time having their services compensated by a guarantee or extension of their rights and privileges.
In addition to the state parliaments, there were also other gatherings called conventions, congresses or conferences in which the states were among themselves and at which matters of the closer homeland were dealt with.
Montafon country custom
The Montafon stand was represented at the state assemblies and other class meetings by the two superiors and the land clerk. They were the representatives of the valley, one could say the state of Montafon. Because the Montafon felt at that time as a self-contained community based on the legal basis of the Montafon land custom (first version 1554) The land custom was the legal system of the Montafon, in which the private law, court constitution law, criminal law and police law were recorded. The rural custom also regulated the representation of the valley, namely in such a way that two superiors were to be elected for two years each, who had to represent the Montafon valley at regional assemblies and in other places. After the state constitution was dissolved by the Bavarian rule in 1806, the Montafon land usage also lost its effectiveness.
The professional representatives since 1815
- Ignaz Vonier, Schruns, 1815–1828
- Mathias Drexel, Tschagguns, 1830–1847
- Jakob Jochum, Tschagguns, 1847–1867
- Franz Josef Stemer, Schruns, 1867–1889
- Jakob Stemer, Schruns, 1889–1919
- Josef Georg Jochum, Tschagguns, 1919
- Franz Josef Wachter , Schruns, 1919–1938
- Heinrich Dajeng, Schruns, 1938–1945
- Jakob Hueber, Schruns, 1945–1950
- Josef Keßler , Bartholomäberg, 1950–1965
- Peter Wachter, Gaschurn, 1965–1970
- Ignaz Battlogg , St. Anton, 1970–1976
- Erwin Vallaster, Bartholomäberg, 1977–1985
- Siegmund Stemer , St. Anton, 1985-1996
- Dr. Erwin Bahl, Schruns, 1996-2010
- Rudolf Lerch, St. Anton, 2010–2015
- Herbert Bitschnau, Tschagguns, 2015-