CONCLUSION

The fact that the constituent units can have their own constitutions represents an important element of “self-rule” in a federation. In Switzerland, the Federal Constitution actually expects that all twenty-six cantons will have their own constitutions, and despite the limited formal and material scope of what they have to enshrine in their fundamental law, the cantons take this matter very seriously.

Historically, cantonal constitutions have always been in advance of the Federal Constitution. For instance, popular rights have often been developed at the cantonal level and then adopted later by the Confederation. This was also the case for a certain number of rights granted first at the cantonal level and then recognized by the Federal Tribunal and, in the end, enshrined in the new 1999 Constitution, which is a modern legal tool. But this text does not deter cantonal founding fathers from using their imagination and expressing their daring in their constitutions. On 16 May 2004, when the Catholic canton of Fribourg adopted its new constitution, it was the first in the world formally to recognize same-sex marriage!

1 Schweizerisches Zentralblatt für Staats- und Verwaltungsrecht (ZBL.), Schulthess, Band 1991 (1990): 17.

2 Participation: 32.93 percent; from 5 February to 20 March 2011, a pilot study was submitted to the public for consultation.

3 The answer could be very long! The basic answer in the text is drawn from the recent work of Andreas Auer, Giorgio Malinverni, and Michel Hottelier, Droit constitutionnel suisse, vol.

4 John Kincaid, “Comparative Observations,” in John Kincaid and Alan Tarr, eds., Constitutional Origins, Structure, and Change in Federal Countries: A Global Dialogue on Federalism, vol. 1 (IACFS/McGill Queen’s University Press 2005), 409.

5 An exception is G. Alan Tarr, Robert F. Williams, and Josef Marko, eds., Federalism, Subnational Constitutions, and Minority Rights (Westport, CT: 2004). This book therefore bridges a considerable gap.

6 Workshop: Subnational Constitutions in Federal Constitutional States. Chairs: Professor Antonio Hernandez, University of Cordoba, Argentina, and Professor Robert Williams, Rutgers University, United States.

7 Since we have at our disposal at the Institute of Federalism the documentation related to all these constitutional changes since the new Constitution of Bern was established in 1993, it has been possible to design a complete picture of the developments in the last seventeen years.

8 Cf. Urs Bolz, “Neuere Totalrevisionen von Kantonsverfassungen: Eine Bestandesaufnahme der Revisionsverfahren,” Gesetzgebung heute 2 (1992): 56.

9 Geneva launched the process only in 2008, and Valais remains one of the few cantons reluctant to produce a new constitution.

10 Eduard Amstad, “Ist die Unterscheidung von Halb- und Ganzkantonen sowie die im übrigen gleiche Gewichtung der Kantone trotz ungleicher Grosse und Leistungsfähigkeit noch berechtigt?” in Foderalismushearings/Le federalisme reexamine III (Zürich: Benziger 1973), 1112.

11 The new Constitution was guaranteed by a Decree of the Federal Assembly dated 25 March 1966 (BBl. 1966 I 558).

12 See Christian Dominice, The Secession of the Canton of Jura in Switzerland, in Marcelo G. Kohen, ed., Secession: International Law Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2006) 453. Very detailed: Patrick Talbot, La Republique et Canton du Jura: Etude des institutions politiques et administratives du vingt-troisième canton de la Confederation suisse (Fribourg: PIFF 4 1991).

13 Kurt Furgler, Die Totalrevision der Bundesverfassung/La revision totale de la Constitution federale, Schriftenreihe des Stapferhauses aus der Lenzburg (Sauerländer: Aarau 1982), 45 (transl.).

14 http://unenouvelleconstitutionpourgeneve.ch/?2005/06/24/28–les-constituantes-dans-le-mouvement-des-revisions-totales-des-constitutions-cantonales.

15 Kincaid, Comparative Observations, 437.

16 Switzerland’s New Federal Constitution, unofficial translation published by the Federal Chancellery.

17 Considering the silence of the Constitution, this “minimum” has been drawn by the unanimous doctrine.

18 For a very detailed presentation of these obligations, see Peter Saladin, “Commentary on Art. 6 a CF,” in Commentaire de la Constitution federale de la Confederation suisse (Bâle/ Zurich/Berne: Helbing&Lichtenhahn/Schulthess/Stämpfli 1996).

19 From 0.1 percent in Appenzell Inner-Rhoden to 7 percent in Neuchâtel.

20 Arrête federal touchant la publication des constitutions cantonales, of 25 July 1863, RS 131.2. The law was subsequently abrogated.

21 http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/ff/index.html. See also Ordonnance du 17 novembre 2004 sur les recueils du droit federal et la Feuille federale (Ordonnance sur les publications officielles, OPubl), of 17 November 2004, RS 170.512.1.

22 According to the databank of the Institute of Federalism, in 2006 sixteen amendments to cantonal constitutions entered into force, as did fifteen in 2005. There were also many more drafts or initiatives.

23 According to Saladin ( “Commentary,” no. 54) and to Augustin Macheret, who was responsible for the redaction of the Constitution of Jura (discussion with the author).

24 Kantonsratsbeschluss über die Einleitung der Totalrevision der Kantonsverfassung, 25 May 2005; Amtsblatt 2005, no. 22, S. 877.

25 Motion M 1/01.

26 http://www.verfassung-sz.ch.

27 It had even been adopted before the creation of “modern” Switzerland in 1848; it contains many “old-fashioned” provisions reminiscent of the liberal revolution of 1848.

28 This Committee has a website where all its activities are presented: http://unenouvelleconstitutionpourgeneve.ch.

29 The constitution is so old that it is officially dated “24. Wintermonat 1873” (24 month of the winter 1873), using a medieval term that no longer exists in the German language.

30 Published in the Appenzeller Volksfreund of 10 February 2001.

31 Motion concernant une demande de revision totale de la Constitution cantonale (Initiative parlementaire transformee en motion par la commission de censure) (4.139) du 12.05.2000 Liste des motions developpees en juin 2001, 32; en septembre 2001, 12; en avril 2003, 25) (The motion proposes that the work be given to a Constituent Assembly); Motion concernant la revision de la Constitution (4.250) (Liste des motions developpees en session d’avril 2003, 32).

32 http://www.sp-zug.ch/Dokumente/Interpellation_20071208_totalrevision-verfassung_spescha.pdf.

33 Vorlage Nr. 1575.1–12473. It can be found on the Internet at www.zg.ch.

34 A new federal law concerning the allocation of tasks and financial equalization (Reforme de la Perequation financière et de la repartition des Tâches entre la Confederation et les cantons, shortened to RPT in French, NFA in German) entered into force on 1 January 2008 with the purpose of bringing some clarification to this field.

35 In fact, at the birth of modern Switzerland in 1848, the cantons signed a certain number of treaties with foreign governments (see Yves Lejeune, Recueil des accords internationaux conclus par les cantons suisses en vigueur au premier janvier 1980 (Berne: Lang 1982)), but this power tended to become obsolete because, among others reasons, the number of sovereign principalities around Switzerland decreased as a result of the German and Italian unifications. The cantons therefore signed agreements on a less formal basis.