Constitutional revision: The case of Switzerland

• Autores: Thomas Fleiner
• Localización: Engineering Constitutional Change: A comparative perspective on Europe, Canada and the USA / Xenophon Contiades (ed. lit.), 2012, ISBN 978-0-415-52976-1, págs. 337-358
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Switzerland calls itself a Confederation, but in 1848 it constitutionally became a federal country. Unlike Canada, it has developed its federal system from the bottom up, based on sovereign cantons that created the Swiss Confederation. Originally, Switzerland was a confederation of independent member states held together by the Treaty of 1813, which could only be amended by unanimous vote of its members. After a short civil war, the confederation was transformed into a federation, which maintained the title “Confederation of Switzerland” primarily for reasons of translation due to the four languages used there. However, unlike the United States or the European Union, the members of the Constitution Drafting Diet decided that the Constitution they were proposing to the people and the cantons could enter into force with the approval of a double majority: that of the voters and the cantons. Without formal legitimacy, they abolished the revision provisions of the Treaty of 1813, which could only be amended or revised with the unanimous consent of all cantons.