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Unit 6: Socio-Economic Bases and Salient Features of the Constitutions

without annihilating State identity, by the political device called federalism. Switzerland mocks Notes
all attempts to define nationality, for though the Swiss form a nation, with a solidarity which has
resisted through the space of more than six centuries the multifarious attempts which have been
made to undermine it, they have always lacked and still lack a common religion and a common
language, while even their mountains do not form a ring which would make a natural boundary.
The Constitution of 1848 underwent a total revision in 1874 and it is in accordance with this
revised Constitution, as amended from time to time, that Switzerland is governed today. It gave to
the Federal Government centralised control over military affairs and initiative in unifying certain
matters of commercial law. This was done to overcome the weaknesses observed in the army
during its mobilisation in 1870-71. It also reinforced the anti-clerical provisions of the previous
Constitution and added new powers to combat some of the abuses that had been observed in
managing national economy. It introduced federal legislative referendum. It abolished separate
judicial systems of the cantons and provided for the establishment of a uniform system. The
Federal Tribunal, which under the previous constitutional dispensation had been more than a
committee of the Federal Assembly entrusted with certain very limited judicial duties, was
strengthened so as to make it a real federal court approximating to the model of the United States
Supreme Court.
The most important features of the revised Constitution of 1874 should, however, be traced in
strengthening the hold of the Federal Government. It not only increased the control of the Centre
over armed forces, it also provided for the nationalisation of the railways under federal ownership
and causing legislation to be referred to the entire Swiss people not as inhabitants of certain
cantons but as a single, unified Court of Appeal. By all means, it marked the triumph of the
Radicals who continued their movement for the centralisation of powers after the inauguration of
the previous Constitution. The result was that the federalists who could have their lines incorporated
into the constitution of 1848 in the form of important compromises had their defeat at the hands
of their traditional opponents who would now not let them have the development of the Constitution
in the direction of social and municipal privileges of the cantons.
Salient Features of the Constitution
The salient features of the Swiss Constitution framed in 1848 and revised in 1874 may be thus
enumerated:
1. A Written and An Enacted Document: Like the Constitution of the United States, it is a written
document having 123 Articles. It was framed by a committee of 23 persons some of whom
belonging to the liberal cantons were elected by the members of the Diet and some others were
appointed by the Chairmen of the recalcitrant cantons in 1848. It was revised in 1874. While the
Constitution of 1848 converted the loose league of cantons into a federation of the units of the
‘confederation’, its revised form in 1874 gave to the federal government centralised control
over military affairs and initiative in unifying certain matters of commercial law. As a matter
of fact, it opened the way for the gradual infiltration of centripetal tendencies. It specifies the
powers of the Centre and also enumerates some concurrent powers given to both the Centre
and the cantons. It is the supreme law of the land.
2. A Rigid Constitution: Like the American Constitution, it is rigid as its process of amendment
is very difficult. A bill of constitutional amendment passed by the Federal Assembly is to be
ratified by the majority of the cantonal governments as well as by the majority of the voters in
a referendum. At least, 1,00,000 voters or 8 cantons may initiate a proposal to be adopted by the
Federal Assembly. If it is passed, then it is to be ratified by the majority of the cantons and a
nation-wide referendum. If compared, it appears to be more rigid than that of the United
States, for here the ratification is to be done the majority of the cantonal governments as well
as by the majority of the votes taken in a referendum. But in a different respect, it is less rigid
than that in view of the ‘democratic’ character of the people. The institutions of direct democracy
(initiative and referendum) have made the matters easy. Moreover, at every stage the bill or
proposal of amendment is to be passed by the simple majority of votes, while in America abill
of constitutional amendment must be passed by 2/3 majority in each house of the Congress

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