Völkerrechtskonforme Auslegung aus schweizerischer Sicht: Ein Randphänomen?

Abstract

This article discusses the scope and limits of consistent interpretation in Switzerland and discusses the extent to which construing national law in conformity with public international law is indicative of the ‘friendliness towards international law’ of a constitution. I argue, first, that consistent interpretation in Switzerland has certainly served the cause of friendliness towards international law, but that three conditions must be met before it can come into play. Second, the article concludes that consistent interpretation is, nevertheless, of limited use in ‘measuring’ the international law friendliness of the Swiss legal system because consistent interpretation does not come into play in numerous constellations and narrows the view to a modest number of court cases. In relation to the sum of challenges related to the implementation of international law domestically, consistent interpretation is a marginal phenomenon.