SEGESSER, PHILIPP ANTON. - Swiss politician, born in Lucerne on April 5, 1817, died there on June 30, 1888. In 1851, a member of the Grand Council of Lucerne; in the years 1863-67 and 1871-88, a member of the government.
After the failure in 1847 of the Sonderbund (a political union of Swiss Catholics), which he had advised against, Segesser became for a long time the leader of the conservative Catholics of Switzerland, a staunch opponent of the liberal State of 1848, and an advocate of a federal and Catholic regime. He also became renowned for his works on the history of his country, adhering to the historical school of law.
Writings: *Rechtsgeschichte der Stadt und Republik Luzern* (4 vols., Lucerne 1851-58); *L. Pfyffer und seine Zeit* (3 vols., Bern 1880-82); *Gesammelte kleine Schriften* (4 vols., 1877-87). He edited the *Eidgenössische Abschiede 1245-1520* (3 vols., Basel 1858-69).