Switzerland · Courts
Court structure of Switzerland
Every tier of the judiciary, what it hears, and where an appeal goes next.
The hierarchy, top to bottom
- Supreme — Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgericht)
- Lausanne and Lucerne; final instance in all fields, but cannot annul a federal statute.
- Federal — Federal Administrative Court
- St Gallen; reviews federal administrative decisions.
- Federal — Federal Criminal Court
- Bellinzona; tries offences within federal jurisdiction.
- Appellate — Cantonal high courts
- Each canton maintains its own appellate court (Obergericht, Cour de justice, and equivalents).
- First instance — Cantonal district and commercial courts
- Organised entirely under cantonal law; four cantons run specialised commercial courts.
- Conciliation — Conciliation authorities
- A conciliation attempt is generally compulsory before most civil claims may be filed.
Every court in the hierarchy
- supremeLausanneFederal Supreme CourtNational — final appellate instance
- specialisedBellinzonaFederal Criminal CourtNational — organised crime, terrorism, complex economic and cross-cantonal cases
- specialisedSt. GallenFederal Administrative CourtNational — appeals against federal administrative decisions, including asylum
- appellateOne per cantonCantonal High CourtsCantonal — appeals from district courts
- first-instanceDistrict seats within each cantonDistrict CourtsCantonal — first-instance civil and criminal cases
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