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The Swiss Confederation, desiring to confirm the alliance of the Confederates, to maintain and to promote the unity, strength, and honor of the Swiss nation, has adopted the Federal Constitution following:

CHAPTER I. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

ARTICLE FIRST. The peoples of the twenty-two sovereign Cantons of Switzerland, united by this present alliance, viz. :

Zurich, Bern, Luzern, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden (Upper and Lower), Glarus, Zug, Freiburg, Solothurn, Basel (urban and rural), Schaffhausen, Appenzell (the two Rhodes), St. Gallen, Grisons, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, and Geneva, form in their entirety the SWISS CONFEDERATION.

*This translation of the Constitution of Switzerland has been made from the parallel French and German texts by Albert Bushnell Hart, Assistant Professor of History in Harvard College, who has also furnished the bibliographical notes. The copy or proofs of the translation have been submitted to Profs. S. M. Macvane and Adolphe Cohn of Harvard College, Prof. Bernard Moses of the University of California, Prof. Woodrow Wilson of Wesleyan University, Prof. R. Hudson of the University of Michigan, and Mr. J. M. Vincent, Librarian of the Department of History and Politics, Johns Hopkins University-from all of whom helpful suggestions have been received. The translation adheres as closely as possible to the form of the French version, since the French idioms more closely approach the usual phraseology of American political documents. Amendments passed up to 1889 have, in accordance with Swiss usage, been incorporated in their logical place in the text.

Copyright, 1890, by Directors Old South Studies.

ART. 2. The purpose of the Confederation is, to secure the independence of the country against foreign nations, to maintain peace and order within, to protect the liberty and the rights of the Confederates, and to foster their common welfare.

ART. 3. The Cantons are sovereign, so far as their sovereignty is not limited by the Federal Constitution; and, as such, they exercise all the rights which are not delegated to the federal government.

ART. 4.

All Swiss are equal before the law. In Switzerland there are neither political dependents, nor privileges of place, birth, persons, or families.

ART. 5. The Confederation guarantees to the Cantons their territory, their sovereignty, within the limits fixed by Article 3, their Constitutions, the liberty and rights of the people, the constitutional rights of citizens, and the rights and powers which the people have conferred on those in authority.

ART. 6. The Cantons are bound to ask of the Confederation the guaranty of their Constitutions.

This guaranty is accorded, provided:

(a) That the Constitutions contain nothing contrary to the provisions of the Federal Constitution.

(b) That they assure the exercise of political rights, according to republican forms, representative or democratic.

(c) That they have been ratified by the people, and may be amended whenever the majority of all the citizens demand it.

ART. 7. All separate alliances and all treaties of a political character between the Cantons are forbidden.

On the other hand the Cantons have the right to make conventions among themselves upon legislative, administrative, or judicial subjects; in all cases they shall bring such conventions to the attention of the federal officials, who are authorized to prevent their execution, if they contain anything contrary to the Confederation, or to the rights of other Cantons. Should such not be the case, the covenanting Cantons are authorized to require the coöperation of the federal officials in carrying out the convention.

ART. 8. The Confederation has the sole right of declaring war, of making peace, and of concluding alliances and treaties with foreign powers, particularly treaties relating to tariffs and

commerce.

ART. 9. By exception the Cantons preserve the right of concluding treaties with foreign powers, respecting the administration of public property, and border and police intercourse; but such treaties shall contain nothing contrary to the Confederation or to the rights of other Cantons.

ART. 10. Official intercourse between Cantons and foreign governments, or their representatives, shall take place through the Federal Council.

Nevertheless, the Cantons may correspond directly with the inferior officials and officers of a foreign State, in regard to the subjects enumerated in the preceding article.

ART. II. ART. 12. No members of the departments of the federal government, civil and military officials of the Confederation, or federal representatives or commissioners, shall receive from any foreign government any pension, salary, title, gift, or decoration.

No military capitulations shall be made.

Such persons, already in possession of pensions, titles, or decorations, must renounce the enjoyment of pensions and the bearing of titles and decorations during their term of office.

Nevertheless, inferior officials may be authorized by the Federal Council to continue in the receipt of pensions.

No decoration or title conferred by a foreign government shall be borne in the federal army.

No officer, non-commissioned officer, or soldier shall accept such distinction.

ART. 13.

The Confederation has no right to keep up a standing army.

No Canton or Half-Canton shall, without the permission of the federal government, keep up a standing force of more than three hundred men; the mounted police [gendarmerie] is not included in this number.

ART. 14. In case of differences arising between Cantons, the States shall abstain from violence and from arming themselves; they shall submit to the decision to be taken upon such differences by the Confederation.

ART 15. In case of sudden danger of foreign attack, the authorities of the Cantons threatened shall request the aid of other members of the Confederation and shall immediately notify the federal government; the subsequent action of the latter shall not thereby be precluded. The Cantons summoned are bound to give aid. The expenses shall be borne by the Confederation.

ART. 16. In case of internal disturbance, or if the danger is threatened by another Canton, the authorities of the Canton threatened shall give immediate notice to the Federal Council, in order that that body may take the measures necessary, within the limits of its power (Art. 102, §§ 3, 10, 11), or may summon the Federal Assembly. In extreme cases the authorities of the Canton are authorized, while giving immediate notice to the Federal Council, to ask the aid of other Cantons, which are bound to afford such aid.

If the executive of the Canton is unable to call for aid, the federal authority having the power may, and if the safety of Switzerland is endangered shall, intervene without requisition.

In case of federal intervention, the federal authorities shall take care that the provisions of Article 5 be observed.

The expenses shall be borne by the Canton asking aid or occasioning federal intervention, except when the Federal Assembly otherwise decides on account of special circumstances.

ART. 17. In the cases mentioned in Articles 15 and 16, every Canton is bound to afford undisturbed passage for the troops. The troops shall immediately be placed under federal command.

ART. 18. Every Swiss is bound to perform military service.

Soldiers who lose their lives or suffer permanent injury to their health, in consequence of federal service, are entitled to aid from the Confederation for themselves or their families, in case of need.

Each soldier shall receive without expense his first equipment, clothing, and arms. The weapon remains in the hands of the soldier, under conditions which shall be prescribed by federal legislation.

The Confederation shall enact uniform provisions as to an exemption tax.

ART. 19. The federal army is composed:

of the cantonal military corps.

(8) of all Swiss who do not colong to such military corps,

but are nevertheless liable to military service.

The Confederation exercises control over the army and the material of war provided by law.

In cases of danger, the Confederation has also the exclusive and direct control of men not included in the federal army, and of all other military resources of the Cantons.

The Cantons have authority over the military forces of their territory, so far as this right is not limited by the Federal Constitution or laws.

ART. 20. The laws on the organization of the army are passed by the Confederation. The enforcement of military laws in the Cantons is intrusted to the cantonal officials, within limits which shall be fixed by federal legislation, and under the supervision of the Confederation.

Military instruction of every kind pertains to the Confederation. The same applies to the arming of troops.

The furnishing and maintenance of clothing and equipment is within the power of the Cantons; but the Cantons shall be credited with the expenses therefor, according to a regulation to be established by federal legislation.

ART. 21. So far as military reasons do not prevent, bodies of troops shall be formed out of the soldiers of the same Cantons.

The composition of these bodies of troops, the maintenance of their effective strength, the appointment and promotion of officers of these bodies of troops, belong to the Cantons, subject to general provisions which shall be established by the Confederation.

ART. 22.

On payment of a reasonable indemnity, the Confederation has the right to use or acquire drill-grounds and buildings intended for military purposes, within the Cantons, together with the appurtenances thereof.

The terms of the indemnity shall be settled by federal legislation.

ART. 23. The Confederation may construct at its own expense, or may aid by subsidies, public works which concern Switzerland or a considerable part of the country.

For this purpose it may expropriate property, on payment of a reasonable indemnity. Further enactments upon this matter shall be made by federal legislation.

The Federal Assembly may forbid public works which endanger the military interests of the Confederation.

ART. 24. The Confederation has the right of superintendence over dike and forest police in the upper mountain regions. It may coöperate in the straightening and embankment of torrents as well as in the afforesting of the districts in which they rise. It may prescribe the regulations necessary to assure the

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