Constitution of the Canton of Solothurn

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The current constitution of the canton of Solothurn (KV) was passed in a referendum in 1986 and came into force on January 1, 1987.

It replaced an exactly 100-year-old constitution, which was relatively difficult to understand linguistically, had systematic deficiencies and was considered a "patchwork" due to numerous revisions. This new constitution brought progress in advance with regard to the codification of the practice of the Federal Supreme Court in the area of fundamental rights , which amounted to a significant expansion of the catalog of fundamental rights. For almost the first time in Switzerland, social goals have also been set. On the other hand, there is as yet no explicit provision regarding equality between the sexes; one is content here with a general formulation of legal equality . In terms of popular rights, the most important innovation was the nationwide introduction of the Volksmotion for the first time : 100 voters are allowed to submit a motion to the cantonal parliament that has the same effect as the motion of a member of parliament.

Historical review

For the Middle Ages and the early modern period there can be no question of an actual written constitution in the canton of Solothurn either. Fundamental rights for the general population, an Enlightenment achievement , were completely unknown. In the Middle Ages, the government of the Solothurn community was primarily in the hands of relatively distant princes and their vassals within the framework of feudal rule ; After obtaining imperial immediacy and the mayor's right to vote, it passed to the citizens of the city of Solothurn , which was organized democratically (analogous to today's municipal assembly ) with restrictions . In the early modern period, the entire power of the state, which in the meantime had also emerged territorially , was increasingly concentrated in the hands of a narrow aristocratic upper class in the Solothurn capital, primarily in the wake of French absolutism , who passed it on to their descendants without further ado. A 'constitution' existed in the patriciate era only in the form of a few incoherent documents , which laid down disciplinary regulations for the population without rights, regulations for the mercantilist economy and the organization of government activities. Many official acts were still purely arbitrary , since the rule of law is only a product of the Enlightenment.

After the French Revolution and the strictly centralized national Helvetic Constitution dictated by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798 , the mediation act of 1803 initially established a cantonal constitution in the Canton of Solothurn as well. With - not yet expanded as far as today - basic constitutional rights and a census suffrage , z. Sometimes the patriciate and now the citizenship of the capital were still privileged over the rest of the canton's population.

The current constitution has been the canton's 10th constitution since Napoleon's mediation constitution. From the liberal overthrow of 1830, the development still shows censorship traits in the sense of a somewhat weakened privilege of the capital. This was followed by a phase of further democratization in the direction of equal voting rights (for men) with the culmination of direct democracy , which arose in 1869 from the still relatively rudimentary popular veto in the form of a popular initiative and referendum . The whole thing was fought in fierce political battles, occasionally on the brink of civil war, as the so-called old liberal exponents were vehement advocates of a purely parliamentary democracy without popular rights. Direct democracy was also more difficult in the canton of Solothurn with the granting of women's suffrage and voting rights, which was only enforced in 1971.

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  • Canton of Solothurn: Annotated draft constitution for the referendum of June 8, 1986
  • Canton of Solothurn: Annotated Constitution of the Canton of Solothurn of October 23, 1887 (1973)
  • B. Amiet / H. Sigrist: History of Solothurn , Volumes 1 to 3
  • Th. Wallner: History of the Canton of Solothurn , Volume 4.1