Domicilie

Domicilie is a legal concept referring to a person’s permanent home and principal center of ties for purposes of jurisdiction and personal law. It is typically distinct from mere residence, which may be temporary or casual, and from nationality. The term is used across different legal traditions, with variations in how it is defined and applied.

In civil law traditions, domicile is the place where a person has their fixed, permanent home with the intention to remain and to return there if away. In common law jurisdictions, domicile is often described as a state of legal attachment requiring both physical presence and the intention to remain, and it helps determine which court has authority and which law applies in matters such as taxation, inheritance, and family law.

Domicilie can be established in several ways: domicile of origin (at birth, typically derived from the parents’ domicile); domicile of choice (acquired by moving to a new place with the intention to remain); or domicile by operation of law (for certain persons, such as minors, where a guardian’s or other specified person’s domicile governs). Changing domicile generally requires both physical relocation and a genuine intention to treat the new place as home.

Effects of domicile include determining tax jurisdiction, eligibility for benefits, and the applicable law in private international disputes. Some jurisdictions recognize a single domicile at a time, while others distinguish between domicile of origin and domicile of choice or apply different rules for particular purposes. Domicilie remains a central concept in conflicts of law, civil procedure, and sovereign authority.