of Neuchâtel School of Law, It is not The Swiss constitutional The parliament can recommend to accept or reject the initiative or can make its own counter proposal. Zeitschrift für Datenrecht und Informationssicherheit (Schulthess By giving the direct democratic rights of the people priority over any form of judicial review, the Federal Constitution limits by intent the jurisdiction of the Federal Supreme Court. und Praxis, REPRAX The or specialization. half-canton). Much like the U.S. Supreme Court, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in Lausanne is primarily a court of last resort, but, unlike in the United States, there are – at least at the moment – no lower federal courts. Municipalities (Local Authorities), which are subordinated to the Cantons, Many of the rules of professional conduct have been harmonized just recently by a new federal statute on the free movement of lawyers. It guarantees the basic rights of the people and the participation of the public. the The Swiss-American cantons are divided into municipalities or communes, of which there are at In addition to the tasks entrusted to them by the Confederation and the Canton – such as the population register and civil defense - the local authorities also have specific tasks of their own for education and social welfare, energy supply, road building, local planning, taxation, etc. Dessemontet François, Intellectual Property Law in Switzerland, The Hague (Kluwer Law International) 2000. Public largest legal publishers in Switzerland include, Law Hochstrasser Daniel/Vogt Nedim Peter, Commercial Litigation and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Switzerland, Swiss Commercial Law Series, Vol. There is also a good selection of Swiss legal books in French. The Swiss Federal Criminal Court acts as a trial court of first instance in certain matters of federal criminal law specifically attributed to the federal jurisdiction. Recht/Revue suisse de droit international et de droit européen, SZK – RSC – Schweizerische Zeitschrift About half of the 26 cantons are publishing their Official Collection of Law on the Internet. statutes take priority over regulations promulgated by the government or Walther is a Lecturer and Researcher at the Institute for Swiss and International Civil Procedure and Private International Law of the University of Bern. The initiative is then voted on by the people and the cantons. What makes this database unique is its very comprehensive thesaurus that automatically translates the search terms into the other official languages. academic law libraries, courthouse libraries, legislative law libraries and law AG), RPW - DPC - Recht und Politik des Click the Donate button and support. Federal Because of Switzerland’s linguistic, political, geographical and also religious diversity, the political system emphasizes political consensus. The principal discussion list for Swiss lawyers is the Swisslawlist which is open only to lawyers. With the signatures of 100,000 people a so-called popular initiative can be launched and a change of the Federal Constitution be proposed. – AbR Amtsbericht über die Rechtspflege des Kantons Obwalden Confederation in its relations with Romanche natural persons” (Voyame, in Switzerland is a federal state that lies at the heart of Europe and is bordered by Germany (to the north), Austria and the Principality of Liechtenstein (to the east), Italy (to the south) and France (to the west).