About Open Legal Commentary

Mission

openlegalcommentary.ch makes Swiss federal law accessible to everyone. Each commentary article is readable on three levels: as a concise overview, as academically grounded doctrine, and as a complete case law digest.

Methodology

Commentary is AI-generated following strict editorial guidelines. Every legal statement is traceable to a primary source. Doctrinal positions are precisely attributed. Minority opinions are presented fairly and completely.

Three Layers

Layer 1 — Overview: Accessible summary at B1 language level (150–300 words). What does the provision regulate? Who is affected? What are the legal consequences?
Layer 2 — Doctrine: Academic analysis with marginal numbers (N. 1, N. 2, ...). Legislative history, systematic context, elements of the provision, legal consequences, doctrinal debates.
Layer 3 — Case Law: Complete digest of Federal Supreme Court decisions, grouped by topic. For each decision: BGE reference, core holding, relevance, block quote of the decisive passage.

Covered Laws

BV — Federal Constitution (SR 101)
ZGB — Civil Code (SR 210)
OR — Code of Obligations (SR 220)
ZPO — Civil Procedure Code (SR 272)
StGB — Criminal Code (SR 311.0)
StPO — Criminal Procedure Code (SR 312.0)
SchKG — DCBA (SR 281.1)
VwVG — APA (SR 172.021)
BGFA — Lawyers Act (SR 935.61)

Citation Format

Standard citation formats:

BGE: BGE 130 III 182 E. 5.5.1
BGer: Urteil 4A_123/2024 vom 15.3.2024 E. 3.2
Literature: Gauch/Schluep/Schmid, OR AT, 11. Aufl. 2020, N 2850
Botschaft: BBl 2001 4202

License

Content is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Code is licensed under the MIT License.