Decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court

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Volumes of the official collection of the leading decisions of the Swiss Federal Court (BGE), here volumes 121 and 122 (1995 and 1996 respectively).

The decisions of the Swiss Federal Court (abbreviated BGE ) is the official collection of decisions of the Swiss Federal Court (BGer). Decisions in this collection are also called “(officially) published decisions”, which is (only) obsolete today, as all decisions are available online. However, the published decisions are printed in booklet form and issued annually in bound form.

The BGE volumes have appeared since the court was reorganized in 1875. The citation (short citations) was, for example, BGE II 178 for a decision of June 9, 1876 BGE II 178 or for a judgment of July 11, 1894 BGE XX 289 . The current (short) quotation for a judgment of May 2, 2003 is BGE 129 III 426 . The first number stands for the year (129 corresponds to the year 2003), the Roman number for the volume and the last number for the page number. A detailed quotation with an exact statement of a statement within the mentioned decision reads BGE 129 III 426 E. 3.1.1 p. 433 . The "E." (“Recital”) numbers (“3.1.1”) stand for the corresponding position in the structure of the decision and the “S.” the following number for the page on which the specific statement is located.

“Unpublished” judgments are cited with the case number (for example: 5A_153 / 2009). The extent to which a “published” judgment has an increased “prejudicial effect” compared to an “unpublished” judgment is controversial, as is the binding of Swiss courts to prejudices (including their own) in general. In a more recent judgment (BGE 134 III 534 ff.) The Federal Supreme Court ruled that, in principle, from the time of publication in the official collection, a lawyer must know a new BGE. He could not, however, be required to be aware of "unpublished" federal court decisions that were accessible on the Internet.

Volumes and subject areas up to 1994 (years 111 to 120):

  • Ia constitutional law
  • Ib Administrative Law and International Public Law
  • II civil law
  • III Debt enforcement and bankruptcy law
  • IV Criminal law and the execution of sentences
  • V social security law

Volumes and subject areas since 1995 (year 121):

  • I constitutional law
  • II Administrative Law and International Public Law
  • III Civil law, debt collection and bankruptcy law
  • IV Criminal law and the execution of sentences
  • V social security law

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