Law of Switzerland

Cover of the Swiss Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 (version in German).

Swiss law is a set of rules which constitutes the law in Switzerland.

Sources

There is a hierarchy of political levels which reflects the constitutional character of Switzerland. The Federal law (Template:Lang-de, Template:Lang-fr, Template:Lang-it) consist of the following parts:

• international law,
• Internal law,

According to the Federal constitution and the principle of Subsidiarity (Switzerland), the cantonal laws, and communal laws are part of the Swiss law.

The Internal law (Template:Lang-de, Template:Lang-fr, Template:Lang-it, Template:Lang-rm) consists if the follwing parts:

1. State - People - Authorities (SR 1)
2. Private law - Administration of civil justice - Enforcement (SR 2)
3. Criminal law - Administration of criminal justice - Execution of sentences (SR 3)
4. Education - Science - Culture (SR 4)
5. National defence (SR 5)
6. Finance (SR 6)
7. Public works - Energy - Transport (SR 7)
8. Health - Employment - Social security (SR 8)
9. Economy - Technical cooperation (SR 9)

Some major aspects are:

• the Swiss Federal Constitution (SR 10),
• acts of parliament ("laws") or by-laws,
• delegated legislation, regulations, or ordinances, and
• adjudication (binding decisions) by competent tribunals.

Publications

The federal government publishes legal instruments in three principal official publications:

• the Classified Compilation (Template:Lang-de,Template:Lang-fr, Template:Lang-it, Template:Lang-rm) is the official compilation of all federal laws, ordinances, international and intercantonal treaties that are in force,
• the Official Compilation of Federal Legislation (German: [Amtliche Sammlung des Bundesrechts] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), AS; French: [Recueil officiel du droit fédéral] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), RO; Italian: [Raccolta ufficiale delle leggi federali] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), RU) is the federal gazette, and
• the Federal Gazette (German: [Bundesblatt] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), BBl; French: [Feuille fédérale] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), FF; Italian: [Foglio federale] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), FF) publishes various official texts of the federal government.

All three publications are issued in the three official languages of Switzerland: German, French and Italian. All three language editions are equally valid. They are published by the Federal Chancellery of Switzerland in the form of weekly supplements to loose leaf binders. Since 1999, they are also made available on the Internet in PDF format (as well as HTML in the case of the SR/RS).

Private law

Civil code

The Swiss Civil Code (SR 21) was adopted on 10 December 1907 and has been in force since 1912. It was largely influenced by the German civil code, and partly influenced by the French civil code, but the majority of comparative law scholars (such as K. Zweigert and Rodolfo Sacco) argue that the Swiss code derives from a distinct paradigm of civil law.

Public law

Criminal law

Main article: Swiss Criminal Code

The Swiss Criminal Code (German: Strafgesetzbuch, SR 311) of 21 December 1937 goes back to an 1893 draft by Carl Stooss. It has been in effect since 1942.

Among the notable changes to earlier Swiss criminal law was the abolition of Capital punishment in Switzerland and the legalization of homosexual acts between adults (until 1990, the age of consent for homosexual acts remained set at 20 years, compared to 16 years for heterosexual acts).

The code has been revised numerous times since 1942. The most recent revision (as of 2010), in effect since 2007, introduced the possibility to convert short prison sentences (below one year) into fines, calculated based on a daily rate which has to be established based on the "personal and economic situation of the convict at the time of the verdict", with an upper limit set at CHF 3000 per day of the sentence. Practically all prison sentences shorter than one year have since been converted into fines, conditional sentences (parole) to conditional fines. This has caused controversy because the result is that lighter offences not punishable by imprisonment always result in unconditional fines, while more severe offences now often result in conditional fines that do not need to be paid at all. The Federal Council in October 2010 announced its intention to revert to the earlier system, and all large parties expressed at least partial support.

Other

• Swiss nationality law
• Euthanasia in Switzerland

See also

• Swiss Institute of Comparative Law
• Law enforcement in Switzerland
• Optional referendum

References

• Walther, Fridolin M.R. (15 November 2001). "Introduction to the Swiss Legal System: A Guide for Foreign Researchers". Law Library Resource Xchange. OCLC 753910374. Retrieved 20 June 2014.

External links

• Classified Compilation of Federal Legislation