The Systematic Compilation of Federal Legislation (SR) (, SR; , RS; , RS) is the official compilation of all Swiss federal laws, ordinances, international and intercantonal treaties that are in force.
It is structured by topic, and comprises the constitutions (federal and cantonal), federal laws, ordinances, select federal decrees and important cantonal texts.
The first version was published in paper form in 1948, in response to the need for legal clarity after World War II. Today, it is available in paper form (in red binders with removable leaves), as well as electronically (available on the Internet). It is published by the Federal Chancellery in Switzerland's three official languages (German, French and Italian), with only a few texts in Romansh and English.
An initial systematic classification system was adopted when the Compilation was created in 1948, but was completely overhauled in the 1960s with the switch to a system of removable leaves. Each act included in the collection has an "SR number" corresponding to its position in the thematic classification. International law in force in Switzerland is classified in the same way, but each number begins with a 0.
Initially conferred with a legal value, it has now been stripped of this, and replaced by the Official Compilation of Federal Legislation (German: Amtliche Sammlung des Bundesrechts, AS; French: Recueil officiel du droit fédéral, RO; Italian: Raccolta ufficiale delle leggi federali, RU).
History The predecessor of the current SR was the Systematic Collection ( (BS); (RS); (CS)).Message RS 1947, p. 736.Moll 2009, p. 216.
Systematic Compilation of Laws and Ordinances of 1948
Purpose
By the end of 1945, the Official Compilation of Federal Legislation (AS), created in 1848, had grown to 72 volumes,Message RS 1946, p. 371. some of which ran to 2,000 pages.Message RS 1965, p. 317. Searching for acts became increasingly complicated, to the point where even the federal administration and specialized authorities "had difficulty determining what was valid and what was no longer". Some volumes were no longer available from the Federal Administration's central printing office, so by 1946 no one could obtain all 72 volumes.(fr) Procès-verbal du Conseil national, séance du 28 mars 1946, p. 89. As a result, legislative work suffered from a number of shortcomings. In the interests of legal certainty,(fr) Prise de parole Iten, procès-verbal du Conseil des États, séance du 4 avril 1946, p. 193.Germann 2011, p. 116. the creation of an uncluttered compilation had also become necessary because of the prolific crisis and wartime legislative activity of the 1930s and 1940s.Message LPubl 1983, p. 456 s.
The term "Bereinigung der eidg. Gesetzessammlung" is attested as early as 1931,(fr) Federal Council Decision no. 831, procès-verbal de séance du 15 mai 1931, read online archive. and "Bereinigte Sammlung der Bundesgesetze" as early as 1938,(fr) Lettre du 16 novembre 1938 du DFJP à la Chancellerie fédérale, p. 1. when the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) reported on the Federal Council's 1931 decision. In the same letter, the FDJP refers to the Japanese system.(fr) Lettre du 16 novembre 1938 du DFJP à la Chancellerie fédérale, p. 3.
February 1946 conference
The Federal Chancellery, in agreement with the FDJP, asked Max Imboden, then professor at the University of Zurich, to draw up a report on the subject.Message RS 1946, p. 372. Following this report, the Federal Council authorized a conference of twelve jurists.(fr) Federal Council decision no. 273, procès-verbal de séance du 25 janvier 1946, read online archive.Message RS 1965, p. 317 s. The conference met on February 8, 1946, and was composed of several federal judges, representatives of the bar and legal academics,Federal Council Decision no. 623, procès-verbal de séance du 15 février 1946, p. 2 read online archive. and chaired by the then head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police, Bernese agrarian Eduard von Steiger.
Debates at the Federal Assembly The Federal Council presented its message to the Federal Assembly at the end of February 1946,Message RS 1946. and the National Council took up the matter at the end of March 1946.Procès-verbal du Conseil national, séance du 28 mars 1946. The Federal Council saw the creation of such a collection as that of a "lasting monument to ... Swiss legislative work", or even an "intellectual monument that would happily mark the forthcoming commemoration of the Swiss Constitution of 1848".Kuntschen speech, quoting Federal Councillor Etter, procès-verbal du Conseil national, séance du 28 mars 1946, p. 96.
The Federal Council also intended to publish, along with the Systematic Compilation of laws, a "manual of the usual federal laws and their implementing ordinances".Message RS 1946, p. 377. During the introduction debate, the then Genevan Radical National Councillor Adrien Lachenal saw this as an attack on the interests of private printers,Lachenal speech, procès-verbal du Conseil national, séance du 28 mars 1946, p. 97 ss. wondering "by virtue of what authority and initiative the Chancellery has decided to publish a new manual [sic] on its own initiative". Committee rapporteur Johannes Huber replied that laws are not protected by copyright.Lachenal speech, procès-verbal du Conseil national, séance du 28 mars 1946, p. 100.
Following the debates, Parliament mandated the Federal Council, via a federal decreeVersion proposed by the Federal Council in Message RS 1946, p. 378. dated April 4, 1946, to create a "clearly ordered compilation of federal legislation in force".
January 1948 conference A second conference of experts was held on January 17, 1948, to deal with the Federal Council's supplementary message of 1948Message RS 1948. p. 1. and various technical details. It was at this conference that it was decided to place the article number above the body of the text.Procès-verbal de la conférence d'experts du 17 janvier 1948, p. 19.
Content and publishing The purpose of this systematic collection of laws is to cover legislative acts between 1848 and the end of 1947.Message RS 1946, p. 378 (art. 1 para. 1 of the proposed federal decree).
The 1948 Compilation includes only federal law, but in its "cleaned form" (bereinigt in German and the name Bereinigte Sammlung), i.e. still in force at the time of its creation.Message RS 1946, p. 373. The new collection was not, however, to include any commentary, "in particular [without] ... giving explanations of a historical nature or referring to doctrine or jurisprudence".Message RS 1946, p. 373. A team of nine jurists, accompanied by a stenographer for each official language,Condrau speech, procès-verbal du Conseil national, séance du 7 décembre 1948 archive, p. 44. was set up to do the "clean-up" work. The Compilation was published from 1949 to 1953,Message RS 1965, p. 319. followed by the Registers in 1955, for a total of 15 red volumes,Germann 2011, p. 114. and had an effect on the systematics of today's SR. Germann assumes, however, that jurists are carrying out a clean-up job (Säuberungsarbeit), also in relation to wartime laws still in force.Germann 2011, p. 117.
The 1948 Compilation had a negative effect on the part of the federal legislator, i.e. "all provisions not included in the Compilation are to be considered out of force".Message RS 1965, p. 318.
The total cost of printing the 1948 Compilation has been estimated by the Federal Council at CHF 1.5 million (from 1946, approx. CHF 7.5 million in 2019).Conversion of CHF 1.5 million from 1946 with index base August 1939 = 100 archive.Message RS 1946, p. 376.
Table of contents
At the time of its conception, the 1948 Compilation had the following systematics:(fr) Conseil fédéral, Recueil systématique, Berne, 1949 (read online archive), "Avant-propos", Annexe I p. XII. +Table of contents of the Systematic Compilation of 1948VolumeChapterSubject1st volumeI.The fundamental rules of the ConfederationII.Citizenship and settlementIII.The Confederation's organization2nd volumeIV.Civil law3rd volumeV.Bankruptcy and debt collectionVI.Criminal law and procedureVII.Federal judicial organization and civil procedure4th volumeVIII.Church, school, arts and sciencesIX.Public healthX.Public works. Water power and electrical installations. Expropriation5th volumeXI.Military6th volumeXII.Finance and customs. Alcohol monopoly7th volumeXIII.Transport and communications8th volumeXIV.Labour legislationXV.Social security, unemployment and assistance9th volumeXVI.Agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing10th volumeXVII.Commerce, industry, arts and craftsXVIII.Foreign trade monitoring. Foreign Payments ServiceXIX.Country supply and cost-of-living measures11th et 12th volumesInternational agreements
Systematic Compilation of Laws and Ordinances of 1965
As soon as the volumes of the first Compilation (from 1948) were published in 1955, it was faced with four amendments to the Federal Constitution and 50 laws or revisions of laws in just seven years. This prompted the then St. Gallen National Councillor Kurt Furgler to submit a postulate in 1960 calling for regular updating of the Compilation.Furgler postulate: "The Federal Council is therefore invited to publish a new Recueil systématique in the near future. This compendium should be updated at regular intervals." The postulate was debated at the 1961 winter session of the National Council.Procès-verbal du Conseil national, séance du 7 décembre 1961 archive. The Federal Council decided against the motion, but "nevertheless had to submit to the unshakeable will of the Chambers".Auroi speech, procès-verbal du Conseil des États, séance du 30 juin 1966, p. 433.
During the drafting of a federal law along the lines of the Furgler postulate, the Federal Council received negative opinions about a complete reprint of the 1948 Compilation. These criticisms, summarized in the Federal Council's message, came from the Aargau State Council and the Thurgau Cantonal Court, the former accusing the reprint of "perfectionism ... to throw away, in the stores of the Federal Chancellery but also in the homes of thousands of users, the fifteen volumes of a well-ordered collection in use for just over a decade", while the latter considered that this was of interest only to lawyers.Message RS 1965, p. 320. The Federal Supreme Court ruled against the proposed republication.Message RS 1965, p. 321. Council of State of Geneva, on the other hand, considers the republication necessary, also for reasons of ease of consultation. In order to cope with regular updating, the Federal Council proposed the publication of acts listed in the SR in loose-leaf form, a system recommended by a large number of the legal players consulted. However, in the view of the Federal Council, this system would have no legal force.Message RS 1965, p. 329 (art. 4).
The National Council preferred its committee's proposal over that of the Federal Council and anchored the loose-leaf system in Article 1 of the new law.Procès-verbal du Conseil des États, séance du 30 juin 1966, p. 436.
Creating the current Systematic Compilation The first edition of the SR in its current form began in 1970, with 21 volumes of the "domestic law"Moll 2009, p. 217. section. The publication of quarterly supplements (for the paper version) began in 1971, ending on October 1, 1974.Message LPubl 1983, p. 445.
A complete reprint took place in 1994 and 1995, at the same time as the digitization of the SR.(fr) 1996 Annual Report, p. 6. In order to bridge the gap between volume deliveries, supplements were issued every six months; the quarterly frequency resumed in 1996.
Digitalization Work on digitizing the SR began in 1989, and "the main aim at the time was to automate the updating and printing of the texts in this collection [the SR], in order to speed up their maintenance".