Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations - New York ...

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SWITZERLAND
Confédération Suisse; Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft;
Confederazione Svizzera (Swiss Confederation)
I. COUNTRY PROFILE (Civil Law)
Switzerland is a federal republic comprised of twenty-six Cantons (Cantons, Cantoni, or
Kantone), twenty of which are full Cantons and six of which are half Cantons. Switzerland’s
legal system is based on the civil law tradition. Its official languages are French, Italian, German,
and Romansch.
The Swiss Constitution of 1874 was revised in 1998 and entered into force January 1,
2000. Executive power is vested in the Government, which consists of the President, Vice
President and Federal Council (Conseil Federal, Consiglio Federale, or Bundesrat). The
President is both the head of state and head of the Government. Members of the Federal Council
are elected by the Federal Assembly, usually from among its own members, to a four-year term.
The President and Vice President are elected by the Federal Assembly from among the members
of the Federal Council to concurrent, one-year terms.
Legislative power is vested in the bicameral Federal Assembly (Assemblee Federale,
Assemblea Federale, or Bundesversammlung), which consists of the Council of States (Conseil
des Etats, Consiglio degli Stati, or Standerat) and the National Council (Conseil National,
Consiglio Nazionale, or Nationalrat). The 46 Members of the Council of States (two of whom
represent each full Canton and one of whom represents each half Canton) are directly elected by
the people in each Canton. The 200 Members of the National Council are directly elected by the
people on the basis of proportional representation. Members of both houses serve for four-year
terms. The two houses of the Federal Assembly have equal powers in all respects, including the
right to introduce legislation. All laws (except the budget) can be reviewed by popular
referendum before taking effect.
Judicial power is vested in the courts. The only regular federal court is the Federal
Tribunal (Tribunal Fédéral, Tribunal Federal or Bundesgericht), which consists of thirty fulltime
judges and thirty part-time judges, all of whom are elected by the Federal Parliament to sixyear
terms. The Federal Tribunal is a court of limited jurisdiction. Its principal function is to
hear appeals from civil and criminal decisions of the Canton courts. It has authority to review
cantonal court decisions involving federal law and certain administrative rulings of federal
departments, but it has no power to review legislation for constitutionality. All lower courts are
organized within and by the Cantons.
The Cantons are sovereign subject to limitations by the Constitution; they can exercise all
rights which, according to the Constitution, are not transferred to the Confederation. The
Cantons are thus in a position to define the tasks which they shall accomplish within the
framework of their powers. The Municipalities are autonomous within the limits fixed by
cantonal law. Accordingly, federal law takes precedence over conflicting cantonal law, and
cantonal law takes precedence over conflicting municipal law.
The authorities within each Canton basically mirror the federal authorities in structure
and assessment of powers. In every canton, executive power is vested in a collegiate body,
generally called the Council of State (Conseil d’Etat, Consiglio di Stato, or Regierungsrat).
Each Canton also has a unicameral legislative body, generally called the Great Council (Grand
Conseil, Gran Consiglio, or Kantonsrat).