 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Swiss Federal Constitution" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Swiss Federal Constitution | |
|---|---|
 Cover of the German version | |
| Overview | |
| Jurisdiction | Switzerland |
| Date effective | 1 January 2000 |
| System | Federalassembly-independent[1][2]directorialrepublic under asemi-direct democracy |
| Government structure | |
| Branches | Three |
| Chambers | Two (upper:Council of States; lower:National Council) |
| Executive | Federal Council |
| Judiciary | Federal Supreme Court |
| Federalism | Yes |
| Supersedes | Federal Constitution of 1874 |
TheFederal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation (SR 10;German:Bundesverfassung der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft (BV);French:Constitution fédérale de la Confédération suisse (Cst.);Italian:Costituzione federale della Confederazione Svizzera (Cost.);Romansh:Constituziun federala da la Confederaziun svizraⓘ)[3] of 18 April 1999 (SR 101)[4] is the third and current federalconstitution ofSwitzerland.
It establishes the Swiss Confederation as afederal republic of 26cantons (states). The document contains a catalogue ofindividual and popular rights (including the right to call forpopular referendums on federal laws andconstitutional amendments), delineates the responsibilities of the cantons and the Confederation and establishes the federal authorities of government.
The Constitution was adopted by areferendum on 18 April 1999, in which a majority of the people and the cantons voted in favour. It replaced the prior federal constitution of 1874, which it was intended to bring up to date without changing its substance.
Prior to 1798, theSwiss Confederacy was aconfederation of independent states, not a federal state; as such it was based on treaties rather than a constitution. TheHelvetic Republic of 1798–1803 had a constitution largely drawn up byPeter Ochs, in 1803 replaced by theAct of Mediation, which was in turn replaced by theFederal Treaty of 1815, whichrestored the Confederacy, while the individual cantons drew up cantonal constitutions, in most respects based on theAncien Régime of the18th century, but with notable liberal innovations in the constitutions of the new cantons ofSt. Gallen,Aargau,Thurgau,Ticino,Vaud andGeneva. The new cantonal constitutions in many cases served as precedents for the later federal constitution.[5]
Following the FrenchJuly Revolution in 1830, a number of large assemblies were held calling for new cantonal constitutions.[6] The modifications to the cantonal constitutions made during this period of "Regeneration" remains the basis of the current-day cantonal constitutions. Vaud introduced the legislativepopular initiative in 1846. Berne introduced the legislativeoptional referendum in the same year.[7]
The political crisis of the Regeneration period culminated in theSonderbund War of November 1847.As a result of the Sonderbund War, Switzerland was transformed into afederal state, with a constitution promulgated on 12 September 1848. This constitution provided for the cantons' sovereignty, as long as this did not impinge on the Federal Constitution. The creation of abicameral assembly was consciously inspired by theUnited States Constitution, theNational Council andCouncil of States corresponding to theHouse of Representatives andSenate, respectively.[8]
In a partial revision of 1891, the "right of initiative" was introduced, under which a certain number of voters could make a request to amend a constitutional article, or even to introduce a new article into the constitution. This mechanism is calledfederal popular initiative. Thus, partial revisions of the constitution could – from this time onward – be made at any time.[9]
Twelve such changes were made in the period of 1893 to 1994 (with no changes during the thirty-year period of 1950–1980):[10]
The Federal Constitution was wholly revised for the second time in the 1990s, when the new version was approved by popular and cantonal vote on 18 April 1999. It came into force on 1 January 2000. The 1999 Constitution of Switzerland consists of a preamble and six parts, which together make up 196 articles.[3]
It provides an explicit provision for nine fundamental rights, which up until then had only been discussed and debated in the Federal Court. It also provides for greater details in tax laws. The Constitution of 1999 has been changed by popular initiative ten times in the period of 2002 to 2014, as follows:[10]
| This article is part of the series: |
| Swiss Federal Constitution |
|---|
 |
| Text of the Constitution |
Thepreamble and the first title of the Constitution determine the general outlines ofSwitzerland as ademocraticfederal republic of 26cantons governed by therule of law.
The preamble opens with a solemninvocation of God in continuance of Swiss constitutional tradition. It is a mandate to the State authorities by the Swiss people and cantons, as the Confederation's constituent powers, to adhere to the values listed in the preamble, which include "liberty anddemocracy,independence andpeace insolidarity andopenness towards the world". The latter provision about the "openness" present a drastic contrast with the previous Swiss constitutions which were mostly oriented toward the internal isolationism. The new preamble also provides a provision about responsibility before and the rights of the future generations of the people of Switzerland.
The general provisions contained in Title 1 (articles 1–6) define the characteristic traits of the Swiss state on all of its three levels of authority: federal, cantonal andmunicipal. They contain an enumeration of the constituent cantons, affirm cantonalsovereignty within the bounds of the Constitution and list the national languages –German,French,Italian andRomansh. They also commit the state to the principles of obedience to law,proportionality,good faith and respect forinternational law, an explicit claim forsubsidiarity, before closing with a reference to individualresponsibility.
Title 2 contains the Constitution'sbill of rights and consists of 35 articles. The 1874 constitution contained only a limited number offundamental rights, and some of them grew less significant as the 20th century wore on, such as the right to a decentburial guaranteed in article 53 of the old constitution. In consequence, theSwiss Federal Supreme Court's extensive case law developed an array of implicit or "unwritten" fundamental rights, drawing upon the case law of theEuropean Court of Human Rights and applying the fundamental rights guaranteed in theEuropean Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which Switzerland ratified in 1974.
In the course of the 1999 constitutional revision, theFederal Assembly decided to codify that case law in the form of a comprehensive bill of rights, which is substantially congruent with the rights guaranteed in the ECHR, theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights and theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Title 2 also covers the essential rules on the acquisition of Swiss citizenship and of the exercise of political rights. Furthermore, it contains a number of not directly enforceable "social goals" which the state shall strive to ensure, including the availability ofsocial security,health care andhousing.
Title 2 refers to Swiss people as "women and men of Switzerland" as a sign of acknowledging gender discrimination in the past (Switzerland became the second to last country in Europe that granted,in 1971, suffrage to women). The new Constitution also eliminated some archaisms of the old Constitution, such as the tax upon bride moving into bridegroom's house, prohibition on cantons to have military forces of more than 300 people, the mandate for cantons to provide each other with military assistance, and the prohibition ofabsinthe.
Title 3 describes in the first chapter the relationships between the Confederation, the cantons and the communes. The cantons retain their own constitutions, but in the case of contradiction the Federal Constitution prevails.
The second chapter declares the federal power about areas that require uniform regulation, such as relations with foreign states, security, national and civil defence, general aspects about education, research, culture, the aspects about environment and spatial planning, public construction works and transport, energy and communications, economy in general, concerns about housing, employment, social security and health, about the rights of residence and settlement of foreign nationals, and finally about the responsibility regarding the civil and criminal law, weights and measures.
The third chapter clarifies general financial aspects, in particular taxation.
Title 4 clarifies fundamental political rights and in particular the rights forinitiatives andreferendums.
Title 5 regulates the function and responsibilities of the Federal Government. It provides for three branches of the government represented by three bodies: the Federal Assembly (two chambers, representing the Legislative power), Federal Council (the Executive power), and the Federal Court (the Judicial power). The main differences compared to the previous constitution deal with the supervisory activity of the Federal Court of the Federal Legislature.
Title 6 regulates the revisions of the Federal Constitution as well as transitional provisions.
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only and has no legal force.
.svg)
{{cite book}}:|last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link). Cited asEhrenzeller.
