The Swiss judicial system is of a European continental type. The law is based on Codes. They are enacted by Parliament, upon proposals which are often drafted and always expounded by Law Professors. The University careers are very competitive, and the social standing of academics is high.
The judges “administer” the law rather than “find” it, according to the formula used by the comparatists. Courts are often large in size and handle each year hundreds of cases per judge. The position of a judge is the result of a career choice made by the young lawyer. It is generally not the career aim to which a legal professional aspires, with exception of the highest positions in the judicial hierarchy (Cantonal Supreme Courts and Federal Supreme Court).
The bar is organized on a Cantonal (State) level. The Cantons decide upon the admission to the profession (bar exam), but any lawyer admitted in one Canton is entitled to exercise in all Cantons and on the Federal level. The lawyers form a corporation – the Swiss Bar Association – to which 95 % of all the lawyers adhere, although membership is not mandatory.
The Swiss Bar Association counts some 6'200 members. Considering the population of 7'000'000, this means that the ratio is of roughly 1 lawyer for 1'100 inhabitants.
Admission to the bar is a condition for pleading before Courts, but not for providing legal counseling. It is not a condition for being a judge either.
University studies are open to anyone who has obtained the degree of the “Maturität” or “baccalauréat”. This degree is earned after 12 years of primary and secondary school, when the students are 19 or 20 years old.
The percentage of the young to obtain this degree is rather small; after a rise in the sixties, seventies and eighties, it stabilized at some 18 % of the 19 years old. On the whole, only 21 % of the 21 years old study at the University level. The Universities therefore do not require any additional entry test besides the “Maturität” or “baccalauréat”.
The choices of the University and of the field is free. Most students study in or near their home town. All Universities are run by the State. The fees are low (between € 500 and 1’000 yearly).
Law can be studied at the University only. Switzerland has 8 Faculties of Law; a 9th Faculty is soon to be realized.
The general aim of the University education is to enable the graduates to embrace the career of an attorney, of a judge, of a civil servant in higher positions or of in-house counsel for businesses. Nevertheless, An important part of the graduates – probably more than 50 % - work in non legal professions.
The Law Faculties vary in size, ranging from 400 up to 3'500 students. The law students in all Faculties sum up to a total of more than 10'000:
· 2’000 students enter the Swiss Law Faculties each ear;
· 1'400 leave them each year with a law degree.
If we take into account that the number of law students raised steadily during the nineties, this means that roughly three out of four law students complete their studies successfully.
The normal final law degree is the “Lizentiat der Rechtswissenschaft” or “licence en droit”. This degree can be obtained after 8 semesters (4 years). Most students use 9 or even 10 semester for their studies. The academic year is divided into a winter and a summer semester of 14 weeks each; there are no “summer schools”.
A doctorate can be obtained upon the completion of a doctoral thesis. A thesis is the product of a personal research project presented in a book of 150 to 400 pages. This takes between 18 and 36 months. The research is conducted under the supervision of a law professor and submitted to one of the Law Faculties. While the writing of a doctoral thesis was quite common, especially in the German speaking part of the country, it has become a seldomly used option today, although it is not only done by candidates for an academic career.
Master programs do not exist traditionally, but a few programs were created recently and are now in operation. Others are planned.
Each Law Faculty is free to organise its studies. There is no private or governmental body to exercise a substantive control, neither on the cantonal nor on the federal level.
Nevertheless, the study plans show many general patterns. The curriculum is quite rigidly structured, especially during the first two or three years, sometimes even throughout the four years. Each student has to take a broad range of courses which include the following branches (core subjects in italics):
·
Roman Law and
Legal History
·
Legal philosophy
and legal theory
·
Constitutional
Law
·
Civil Code
(persons, family, inheritance, property real estate)
·
Law of
Obligations (contracts and torts)
·
Corporations
·
Civil Procedure,
debt enforcement and bankruptcy
·
Criminal Law
(including criminal procedure)
·
Administrative
Law
· Private International Law
· Comparative Law
· International Public Law
· European Law
· Labour Law
· Social Security Law
The teaching method is of a continental style. The branches are taught in ex cathedra-classes of 70 to 300 students. These courses are anonymous, with no practical or social obligation to attend. They are completed by courses of a more interactive type, called seminars or “exercises”, in which the student is expected to submit a paper and / or to prepare materials in order to participate actively in the class.
The number class hours per week (“contact hours”) averages at around 20.
The exams are taken at the end of a period of at least one year, generally in the form of one exam for each legal branch (not for each course). Exams are written or oral; all Faculties apply a mixture of both types.
The bar examination is a professional exam organized by the State governments. The jury is composed of both practitioners and academics. About half of the holders of a law degree take the bar exam (almost 700 each year), but only a minority of them exercise the profession of an attorney afterwards.
The exam can be taken after an apprenticeship of one or two years. The apprenticeship consists of practical work in a Court (as “clerk”) or in a law firm, under the supervision of a judge or of an attorney.
The French and Italian speaking cantons as well as a minority of the German speaking cantons have the system of the “notariat latin”. These cantons have legal monopolies according to which private notaries exercise the function of the civil servant necessary to accomplish certain (important) legal acts for which the law prescribes the “notarial” form (“öffentliche Beurkundung” or “forme authentique”). Candidates for the profession have to accomplish a special apprenticeship and special examination, both of which of quite competitive.