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

in favour of total revision, then fresh elections to both the Houses are held for the purpose of Notes
undertaking the revision and the new Federal Assembly after adopting it has to submit it to the
people for ratification. If in this second referendum, the proposed matter is approved by a
majority of the voters, as also of the cantons, the Constitution is accordingly revised.
The rigidity of the Swiss process of constitutional amendment has been softened by the practice of
popular sovereignty. The Swiss people are so sensitive to their rights that they have not pondered
over the need for a strong and independent judiciary as we find in the case of other Federal States
particularly the United States. In 1939, they rejected a proposal that their Federal Tribunal be
invested with the power of judicial review, because as a learned Swiss judge puts, they “saw in the
judicial examination of constitutional law an infringement of the democratic principles.” When
the proposals for constitutional amendment have too frequently been made by the people
themselves, they have never felt apprehensive of the legislative or executive despotism. Rappard
lays emphasis on the fact that it “is easier for the Swiss people to amend their fundamental law
than their ordinary statutes against the will of a hostile parliament.”
Direct Democracy
In the Swiss constitutional system nothing is more instructive to a student of comparative
governments than the institutions of direct democracy – initiative and referendum. They are
perhaps the most remarkable agencies that democracy has produced, for they afford the channel
of direct legislation by the people. No doubt, the instruments of direct democracy have been
introduced in other countries also in varying degrees, but Switzerland is known for their most
distinctively extensive use. That is, while in other parts of the world the agencies of direct democracy
are like frills to adorn the constitutional costumes, in Switzerland they form the warp and woof of
the political system. Thus, Switzerland has been regarded as the ancestral home of the devices of
pure democracy. In the words of Prof. W.B. Munro, “In one form or another these institutions of
direct democracy have been used, but they have spread along the major routes of democratic
infection to various other countries including the United States.”
Initiative: As pointed out above, initiative is one of the devices of direct democracy operating in
Switzerland. It is a positive device in the hands of the voters whereby they may propose matters
of legislation. Legislation is not an exclusive affair of the elected bodies as we find in other
countries. In Switzerland the people may override the jurisdiction of the elected bodies; they may
propose legislation and thereby justify their supremacy over their elected representatives. Moreover,
in Switzerland, the scope of initiative covers not only the ordinary field of law-making, it also
covers the sphere of constitutional amendment in part or full. Thus Hans Huber defines it as the
right of a definite number of voters “to propose an amendment to the Constitution, the drafting of
a law or a single constitutional or legal ordinance, or to demand a popular vote upon it.”
In this way, initiative exhibits the inherent right of the voters to make their influence felt even in
those cases where legislature may like otherwise. Obviously, it is different from the right of
submitting a petition. A petition is a mere submission by the people to a body praying for the
commission or omission of a particular thing and it depends upon that body to do as it thinks fit.
But initiative is the vindication of the sovereign power of the people as it takes effect without
regard to the wishes of the elected bodies. It stands on the assertion that the voters have an
inherent right to propose matters of legislation and when ratified by a majority of their votes, it
becomes a piece of law or Constitution, no matter it goes against the wishes of the elected
representatives. Thus, initiative has been considered an arrangement whereby a specified number
of voters “may prepare the draft of a law and may then demand that it either be adopted by the
legislature or referred to the people for acceptance at a general or special election. If approved by
the required majority, it then becomes a law.”
As prevalent in Switzerland, initiative is of two kinds– constitutional and legislative. The right of
constitutional initiative covers the whole or partial amendment of the Constitution of the
Confederation. Under it a minimum of 1,00,000 voters may ask for a full or partial amendment of
the Constitution. However, in the cantons there is legislative initiative as well. In all the cantons
except where there is the system of town assembly (Landsgemeinde), a prescribed number of

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