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The Initiative and the Referendum in Switzerland1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

William E. Rappard
William E. Rappard
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Extract

It is the pleasant duty of every Swiss, addressing an audience of American citizens on a subject of political science, to begin by acknowledging the debt of gratitude his country owes theirs, for the benefit it has derived from the historical example of the United States.

For over a century a continuous exchange of political ideas has been going on between our two nations. After all the flattering and gratifying commentaries on our institutions that have been made on this side of the ocean, it is but fair that we Swiss should frankly admit that in this exchange we have received more than we have given.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , August 1912 , pp. 345 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1912

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References

2 I refer to such works as Vincent, J. M., State and Federal government in Switzerland (Baltimore, 1891)Google Scholar; MacCrackan, W. D., The Rise of the Swiss Republic (Boston, 1892)Google Scholar; Lloyd, H. D., A Sovereign People (New York, 1907).Google Scholar

3 “La Bourgeoisie de Fribourg, composée de quatre à cinq cents hommes portant armes, frappée de la grandeur du courage des Américains ‥‥ fit un plan ressemblant au leur.” See Les Troubles de 1781 à Fribourg par Nicolas d'Alt. Collection Gremaud, fol. 41, Archives d'Etat de Fribourg.

4 “Glorieux Américains! vous avez pris les armes pour la défense de vos droits … See Exposé justificatif pour le peuple du canton de Fribourg en Suisse, au sujet des troubles arrivés en 1781. (Fribourg, 1781), p. 49.

5 The “Leseverein Stäfa.”

6 Cf. Hottinger, J. J., Vorlesungen über die Geschichte des Untergangs der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft (Zurich 1844) p. 130.Google Scholar

7 Das wichtigste historische Ereignis während meiner Kindheit war die Losreissung der nordamerikanischen Kolonieen … von dem Mutterlande. Noch erinnere ich mich deutlich, dass die nordamerikanische Sache, Franklin, Washington und andere Männer…. Theilnahme für sich erregten, und dass ich das Verfahren des britischen Cabinetts misbilligen hörte.” Knonau, Ludwig Meyer von, Lebenserinnerungen, (Frauenfeld, 1883) p. 5.Google Scholar

8 “Les impressions reçues alors ne n'effacent jamais. Ainsi mon amour, ma passion de la liberté.” … Cart, J. J., De la Suisse avant la révolution et pendant la révolution, (Lausanne, 1802), p. 9.Google Scholar

9 “Ces pays classiques de la liberté.” Cart, J. J., Lettres à F. C. Laharpe, Directeur de la République Helvétique, (Lausanne, 1798,) p. 5.Google Scholar

10 Cart, , De la Suisse etc. p. 62.Google Scholar

11 See his Sämmtliche Werke, (Stuttgart and Tübingen), 1831–1835, vol. xxxii, p. 65.

12 Strickler, J., Aktensammlung aus der Zeit der Helvetischen Republik, (Berne 1886–1903), vol. vi, pp. 260, 721.Google Scholar

13 Ed. Haug, . Der Briefwechsel der Brüder J. Georg Müller and Joh. von Müller, (Frauenfeld 1893), vol. i, p. 175, 188.Google Scholar

14 See his article entitled Gedanken über den Föderalismus in Helvetien, in the Helvetische Monatschrift, Berne 1801, vol. vi, p. 49.

15 Bryce, James, The American Commonwealth, 2nd ed. Vol. I, p. 319.Google Scholar

16 Federal Constitution of 1874, art. 123.

17 Ibid., art. 89.

18 Ibid., arts. 120–122.

19 Zurich, Berne, Schwyz, Solothurn, Baselland, Graubünden, Aargau, Thurgau, Valais.

20 Lucerne, Zug, Schaffhausen, Baselstadt, St. Gall, Tessin, Vaud, Neuchatel, Geneva.

21 Curti, Theodor, Die Resultate des Schweizerischen Referendums, (2nd ed.Berne 1911), p. 4.Google Scholar In the preparation of this paper a very extensive use has been made of this book as well as of several other works by the same author. Mr. Curti, the foremost Swiss authority on the subject of direct popular legislation, is one to whom all students of present day polities must feel deeply indebted.

22 When the federal government adopted the formulative constitutional initiative, it had been tried only in Zurieh, Schaffhausen and Tessin. Cf. Borgeaud, Charles, Etablissement et révision des Constitutions (Paris, 1893), pp. 339, 344.Google Scholar

23 Lucerne, Fribourg, Valais.

24 Curti, , Die Resultate etc., p. 3.Google Scholar

25 Solothurn and St. Gall.

26 Curti, , Die Resultate etc. p. 4.Google Scholar

27 Ibid., pp. 10–16.

28 Helvetie Constitution of 1798, arts. 106, 107.

29 Cf. Aulard, A., Histoire politique de la Révolution française, (Paris 1901), pp. 543–579.Google Scholar

30 This has been conclusively shown by Charles Borgeaud in his above-quoted work. Cf. pp. 27–31, 243, 248 et seq.

31 This debt has been expressly recognized by Theodore Curti. See his Open Letter to Dr. George J. King, reprinted in the January, 1910 number of the Equity series.

32 Curti, , Geschichte der Schweizerischen Volksgesetzgebung, (2nd ed.Zurich, 1885), p. 109.Google Scholar

33 Federal Constitution of 1848, art. 6, litt. c.

34 Cherbuliez, A. E., De la démocratie en Suisse, (2 vols. Paris, 1843), vol. i, p. 92.Google Scholar

35 Curti, , Geschichte etc., p. 128 et seq.Google Scholar

36 Ibid., p. 126.

37 Ibid., p. 127.

38 Ibid., p. 207.

39 Federal Constitution of 1874, art. 89.

40 Borgeaud, Charles, Practical results which have attended the introduction of the referendum in Switzerland. The Arena, May, 1905.Google Scholar

41 Curti, , Geschichte, etc., p. 211.Google Scholar

42 Ibid., pp. 212–214.

43 Ibid., p. 209.

44 Cherbuliez, vol. i, p. 83.

45 Cherbuliez, for instance, says: “Je ne connais rien dans l'histoire qui ressemble à cette instabilité des institutions consacrée en principe et devenue le droit commun de 13 peuples.” He adds in a footnote: “Aux Etats-Unis d'Amérique les constitutions de New Hampshire, Vermont et Indiana sont, si je ne me trompe, les seules qui n'accordent pas à la législature l'initiative exclusive des referendums constitutionnels.” op. cit., p. 85.

46 Federal Constitution of 1848, art. 6, litt. c.

47 Ibid., art. 113.

48 Borgeaud, , Etablissement, etc., pp. 370, et seq.Google Scholar

49 It shocked even so progressive a statesman as Numa Droz, who declared that by accepting it the Swiss people had abandoned democracy for demagogy. Droz, Numa, Etudes et portraits politiques, (Geneva and Paris, 1898), p. 453.Google Scholar

50 Curti, , Geschichte, etc., pp. 148–157.Google Scholar

51 Druey and Delarageaz, two of the leading statesmen of the time in the canton of Vaud, had so befriended the German communists that these compromising protégés claimed them as their own. Cf. Marr, W., Dar junge Deutschland in der Schweiz, (Leipzig 1846), pp. 287–289, 358.Google ScholarAdler, G., Die Geschichte der ersten social politischen Arbeiterbewegung in Deutschland, (Breslau, 1885), p. 69.Google Scholar

52 Curti, , Geschichte, etc., p. 208.Google Scholar

53 Ibid., p. 211.

54 Ibid., pp. 212–3.

55 Curti, , Geschichte, etc., p. 209.Google Scholar

56 Ibid., pp. 215–238. Dr.Dubs, J., Die schweizerische Democratie in ihrer Fortentwicklung, Zurich, 2868, pp. 72 et seq.Google Scholar

57 Deploige, S., Le referendum en Suisse, (Brussels 1892), pp. 168–172Google Scholar; Borgeaud, , Etablissement, etc., p. 375Google Scholar; Dubs, op. cit., p. 76; Dr.Hilty, C., Theoretiker und Idealisten der Demokratie, (Berne, 1868), p. 27.Google Scholar

58 Cf. note 51.

59 Adler, op. cit., p. 71.

60 Curti, , Geschichte, etc., p. 216.Google Scholar

61 Curti, , Resultate, etc., p. 36.Google Scholar

62 Ibid., p. 29.

63 Ibid., p. 26.

64 About 60% of the registered voters usually take part in the federal referendum. This percentage has fallen as low as 40% in non-contested issues and risen as high as 77.6% in the hotly fought battle over state ownership of railroads in 1898. It has not decreased in the last 50 years and is not lower in those cantons where local elections are most frequent than in others. Ibid., pp. 68, 69.

65 For instance in the constitutional debates in Zurich in 1842, Cf. Curti, , Geschichte, etc., p. 144.Google Scholar

66 Curti, Open letter, etc.

67 Curti, , Die Resultate, etc., pp. 12, 27, 31, 32.Google Scholar

68 By 244,570 nays against 169,018 yeas in 1900 and by 265,194 nays against 240,305 yeas in 1910. Ibid., pp. 58, 59, 64.

69 By 270,502 nays against 145,936 yeas in 1900, Ibid., p. 59.

70 The initiators had collected the unusual number of 167,814 signature. They carried their point with the people on July 5, 1908, by 241,078 votes against 138,669. Ibid., p. 62.

71 Succeeded in Zurich, but failed in Geneva. Ibid., 24, 32.

72 Partially succeeded in Zurich in 1895, Ibid., p. 23.

73 Succeeded in Zurich in 1883, but again repealed soon after. Ibid., p. 23.

74 Partially succeeded in Zurich. Ibid., p. 24.

75 Cf. Borgeaud, , Le plébiscite du 4 novembre 1894. Revue de Droit public, 1894, p. 536.Google Scholar Droz, op. cit., p. 474.

76 Borgeaud, loc. cit., p. 537–539.

77 308,289 yeas against 75,880 nays in the first case, 347,401 yeas against 145,362 nays in the second.

78 Droz, op. cit., p. 473. Borgeaud, , Le plébiscite etc., p. 535Google Scholar; Curti, , Die Resultate, etc., p. 50.Google Scholar The measure was carried by 191,527 yeas against 127,101 nays, the number of registered voters being upward of 660,000.

79 Curti, . Die Resultate, etc., p. 63.Google Scholar 304,923 yeas against 56,237 nays.

80 Report to the Department of State by American Vice-consul at Berne, Switzerland, concerning the practical workings of the “Popular Initiative” in Switzerland. (61st Congress. Document No. 126, Washington, 1909), p. 32.

81 Defeated by 353,977 nays against 91,851 yeas. Curti, , Resultate, etc., p. 48.Google Scholar

82 Defeated by 255,984 nays against 195,765 yeas. Ibid., p. 54.

83 This referendum was popularly styled the “four-hunched camel.” One of the “hunches” was a bill to grant the Swiss embassy at Washington an additional yearly credit of $2000. Over 200,000 citizens thought it worth their while to vote against this act of lavish extravagance, which they suspected to be prompted by motives of personal favoritism. Curti, , Resultate, etc., pp. 45–47.Google Scholar

84 Ibid., p. 14.

85 Ibid., pp. 48, 49, 56, 57. In the first vote there were 289,406 nays and 130,729 yeas and in the second, 386,634 yeas and 182,718 nays. The proposed price of the purchase, which was considered exorbitant in the first case, was the main reason for the negative verdict in 1891.

86 Curti, , Resultate, etc., p. 57.Google Scholar

87 On February 4th, 1912, this bill was adopted by a popular majority of nearly 50,000 yeas.

88 Cf., Ibid., pp. 12, 13, 14, 21, 26, 30. Almost every month the daily press in Switzerland records some incident of this kind.

89 Such pessimists have not been wanting in Switzerland. Answering the popular “safety-valve” or “blood-letting” argument invoked in favor of direct legislation, Cherbuliez in 1843 expressed himself very deprecatingly on the subject of “those anticipating remedies which occasion the very evils they are meant to prevent,” by “inoculating the masses with the virus of revolution.” op. cit., vol. I., p. 89. Bluntschli was also very skeptical. Cf. his views in his Geschichte des schweizerischen Bundesrechts, (2 vols., 2nd ed., Stuttgart, 1875), vol. ii., p. 543.

90 Dubs, op. cit., p. 20. Droz, op. cit., p. 464. Hart, A. B., Actual Government (New York, 1906), pp. 79, 81.Google Scholar

91 In an article published in the Revue de Droit Public, 1896, p. 528.

92 In only two cases have popular votes been restricted. Berne in 1880 abandoned the compulsory referendum on the budget, and Zurich in 1899 somewhat limited the scope of its general compulsory plebiscit. Curti, , Resultate, etc., pp. 4, 5.Google Scholar

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