Bei grossen Gesetzen wie OR und ZGB kann dies bis zu 30 Sekunden dauern

Chapter Four: Issue of Bonds secured by a Mortgage Right

Art. 875  

A. Bond is­sues se­cured by a li­en

 

Re­gistered or bear­er bonds may be se­cured by a mort­gage:

1.
by is­su­ing a mort­gage con­tract or a mort­gage cer­ti­fic­ate for the en­tire series and ap­point­ing an agent for the cred­it­ors and the bor­row­er;
2.
by es­tab­lish­ing a mort­gage right for the en­tire bond is­sue in fa­vour of the is­suer and es­tab­lish­ing a mort­gage on that debt in fa­vour of the bond hold­ers.
Art. 876883667  
 

667 Re­pealed by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Title Twenty-Three: Charges on Chattels

Chapter One: Pledges of Chattels and Special Liens

Art. 884  

A. Pledges

I. Es­tab­lish­ment

1. Pos­ses­sion by pledgee

 

1 Ex­cept where oth­er­wise provided by law, chat­tels may be pledged only by the trans­fer of pos­ses­sion of the chat­tel to the pledgee.

2 Any per­son who in good faith takes a chat­tel in pledge ac­quires a gen­er­al li­en over it, provided that third parties do not have rights over the chat­tel as a res­ult of pri­or pos­ses­sion, even if the pledger had no au­thor­ity to ali­en­ate it.

3 The gen­er­al li­en is not es­tab­lished as long as the pledger re­tains ex­clus­ive pos­ses­sion of the chat­tel.

Art. 885  

2. Pledge of live­stock

 

1 A gen­er­al li­en on live­stock to se­cure the claims of lend­ing in­sti­tu­tions and co-op­er­at­ives au­thor­ised to carry out such trans­ac­tions by the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity of the can­ton in which they have their seat may be es­tab­lished without trans­fer of pos­ses­sion by entry in a pub­lic re­gister and no­ti­fic­a­tion to the debt en­force­ment of­fice.

2 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil reg­u­lates the keep­ing of the re­gister.668

3 The can­tons may levy fees for entries in the re­gister and the as­so­ci­ated ad­min­is­tra­tion; they de­term­ine the re­gister dis­tricts and the re­spons­ible of­fi­cials.669

668Amended by No I of the FA of 4 Oct. 1991 on the Par­tial Re­vi­sion of the Civil Code (Im­mov­able Prop­erty Law) and of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions (Pur­chase of Land), in force since 1 Jan. 1994 (AS 1993 1404; BBl 1988 III 953).

669Amended by No I of the FA of 4 Oct. 1991 on the Par­tial Re­vi­sion of the Civil Code (Im­mov­able Prop­erty Law) and of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions (Pur­chase of Land), in force since 1 Jan. 1994 (AS 1993 1404; BBl 1988 III 953).

Art. 886  

3. Sub­or­din­ate pledge

 

A sub­or­din­ate pledge is es­tab­lished by no­ti­fy­ing the pledgee in writ­ing and in­struct­ing him or her to de­liv­er the pledged chat­tel to the sub­or­din­ate pledgee after his or her claim has been sat­is­fied.

Art. 887  

4. Fur­ther pledge by pledgee

 

The pledgee may only give the pledged chat­tel in fur­ther pledge with the pledger’s con­sent.

Art. 888  

II. Ex­tinc­tion

1. Loss of pos­ses­sion

 

1 The gen­er­al li­en is ex­tin­guished once the pledgee no longer pos­sesses the pledged chat­tel and is un­able to de­mand its re­turn from third parties.

2 The ef­fects of the li­en are sus­pen­ded as long as the pledger has ex­clus­ive pos­ses­sion of the pledged chat­tel with the pledgee’s con­sent.

Art. 889  

2. Re­turn

 

1 The pledgee must re­turn the pledged chat­tel to the en­titled party where the pledge is ex­tin­guished due to pay­ment of the debt or for some oth­er reas­on.

2 He or she is not ob­liged to re­turn the pledged chat­tel, in whole or in part, un­til his or her claim has been fully sat­is­fied.


Art. 890  

3. Li­ab­il­ity of the pledgee

 

1 The pledgee is li­able for the de­pre­ci­ation or loss of the pledged chat­tel, un­less he or she shows that he or she is not at fault.

2 If the pledgee has ali­en­ated the pledged chat­tel or giv­en it in fur­ther pledge without au­thor­ity, he or she is li­able for any res­ult­ing dam­age.

Art. 891  

III. Ef­fect

1. Rights of the pledgee

 

1 If the debt­or is in de­fault the cred­it­or has the right to sat­is­fy his or her claim from the pro­ceeds of the pledge.

2 The gen­er­al li­en provides the cred­it­or with se­cur­ity for his or her claim, in­clud­ing con­trac­tu­al in­terest, debt en­force­ment costs and de­fault in­terest.

Art. 892  

2. Scope of the gen­er­al li­en

 

1 The gen­er­al li­en en­cum­bers the pledged chat­tel in­clud­ing its ac­cessor­ies.

2 Un­less oth­er­wise agreed, the pledgee must de­liv­er the nat­ur­al fruits of the pledged chat­tel to the own­er once they are no longer a con­stitu­ent part there­of.

3 Fruits which are a con­stitu­ent part of the pledged chat­tel at the time of its real­isa­tion are in­cluded in it.

Art. 893  

3. Rank

 

1 Where there are sev­er­al pledges on the same chat­tel, the pledgees are sat­is­fied ac­cord­ing to their rank.

2 Rank is de­term­ined by the date on which the pledges were es­tab­lished.

Art. 894  

4. De­fault agree­ments

 

Any agree­ment stip­u­lat­ing that the pledged chat­tel will be­come the prop­erty of the pledgee in the event of de­fault on the part of the debt­or is in­val­id.

Art. 895  

B. Spe­cial li­en

I. Re­quire­ments

 

1 A cred­it­or has the right to re­tain chat­tels and se­cur­it­ies which have come in­to his or her pos­ses­sion with the debt­or’s con­sent un­til his or her claim has been sat­is­fied, provid­ing such claim is due and in­trins­ic­ally con­nec­ted with the re­tained ob­jects.

2 Between per­sons en­gaged in com­merce, an in­trins­ic con­nec­tion ex­ists where both the claim and the re­tained ob­jects re­late to their com­mer­cial deal­ings.

3 The cred­it­or has a spe­cial li­en provided that third parties do not have rights as a res­ult of pri­or pos­ses­sion, even if the chat­tel which he or she has re­ceived in good faith does not be­long to the debt­or.

Art. 896  

II. Ex­cep­tions

 

1 No spe­cial li­en may be as­ser­ted over chat­tels which by their nature are not real­is­able.

2 Equally, no spe­cial li­en may be as­ser­ted where to do so would be in­com­pat­ible with an ob­lig­a­tion as­sumed by the cred­it­or or with in­struc­tions is­sued by the debt­or pri­or to or upon trans­fer of the chat­tel or with pub­lic policy.

Art. 897  

III. In the event of in­solv­ency

 

1 In the event of the debt­or’s in­solv­ency, the cred­it­or has a spe­cial li­en even if his or her claim is not yet due.

2 If the in­solv­ency did not oc­cur or be­come known to the cred­it­or un­til after trans­fer of the chat­tel, the spe­cial li­en may be ex­er­cised even if in­com­pat­ible with a pri­or ob­lig­a­tion or with a spe­cial in­struc­tion is­sued by the debt­or.

Art. 898  

IV. Ef­fect

 

1 If the debt­or is in de­fault and fails to provide suf­fi­cient se­cur­ity, the cred­it­or is en­titled to real­ise the re­tained ob­ject in the same man­ner as a pledged chat­tel after no­ti­fy­ing the debt­or.

2 Where re­tained re­gistered se­cur­it­ies are to be real­ised, the debt en­force­ment or bank­ruptcy of­fi­cial must take the ne­ces­sary steps on the debt­or’s be­half.

Chapter Two: Liens on Debts and Other Rights

Art. 899  

A. In gen­er­al

 

1 Debts or oth­er rights may be pledged provided they are as­signable.

2 Un­less oth­er­wise provided, a gen­er­al li­en on debts and oth­er rights is reg­u­lated by the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing the pledging of chat­tels.


Art. 900  

B. Es­tab­lish­ment

I. In the case of or­din­ary claims

 

1 In or­der to pledge a debt not evid­enced in writ­ing or for which only a bor­row­er’s note ex­ists, the pledge agree­ment must be ex­ecuted in writ­ing and, where ap­plic­able, the bor­row­er’s note trans­ferred.

2 The pledgee and the pledger may in­form the debt­or of the pledge.

3 In or­der to pledge oth­er rights, a writ­ten pledge agree­ment must be drawn up and any form re­quired for the trans­fer must be ob­served.

Art. 901  

II. In the case of se­cur­it­ies

 

1 In the case of bear­er se­cur­it­ies, de­liv­ery of the cer­ti­fic­ate to the pledgee is suf­fi­cient to es­tab­lish the pledge.

2 In the case of oth­er se­cur­it­ies, the cer­ti­fic­ate must be de­livered and either en­dorsed or ac­com­pan­ied by a de­clar­a­tion of as­sign­ment.

3 The pledging of in­ter­me­di­ated se­cur­it­ies is gov­erned ex­clus­ively by the In­ter­me­di­ated Se­cur­it­ies Act of 3 Oc­to­ber 2008670.671

670 SR 957.1

671 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the In­ter­me­di­ated Se­cur­it­ies Act of 3 Oct. 2008, in force since 1 Jan. 2010 (AS 20093577; BBl 20069315).

Art. 902  

III. In the case of doc­u­ments of title to goods

 

1 Where there are doc­u­ments of title to goods, the goods may be pledged by pledging the doc­u­ments.

2 Where a spe­cial war­rant ex­ists in ad­di­tion to a doc­u­ment of title to goods, pledging the war­rant is suf­fi­cient to pledge the goods, provided no­tice of the pledge in­clud­ing the amount of the debt and the ma­tur­ity date is entered on the doc­u­ment of title.

Art. 903  

IV. Sub­or­din­ate pledge

 

A sub­or­din­ate pledge of a debt is val­id only if the pri­or rank­ing pledgee is no­ti­fied in writ­ing of the sub­or­din­ate pledge by the cred­it­or or by the sub­or­din­ate pledgee.

Art. 904  

C. Ef­fect

I. Ex­tent of se­cur­ity

 

1 Un­less oth­er­wise agreed, a pledge of in­terest-bear­ing debts or oth­er debts con­fer­ring peri­od­ic sub­si­di­ary be­ne­fits, such as di­vidends, is lim­ited to the cur­rent debt and the cred­it­or is not en­titled to pay­ments which have already fallen due.

2 However, where such sub­si­di­ary rights are evid­enced by sep­ar­ate doc­u­ments, un­less oth­er­wise agreed, they are also covered by pledged to the ex­tent that the pledge has been val­idly es­tab­lished.

Art. 905  

II.Rep­res­ent­a­tion of pledged shares and cap­it­al con­tri­bu­tions to lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies

 

1 Pledged shares are rep­res­en­ted at gen­er­al meet­ings of share­hold­ers by the share­hold­er rather than the pledgee.

2 Pledged cap­it­al con­tri­bu­tions to a lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pany are rep­res­en­ted in the mem­bers' gen­er­al meet­ing by the mem­ber rather than the pledgee.673

673 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies and modi­fic­a­tions to the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, co­oper­at­ives, the com­mer­cial re­gister and com­pany names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 906  

III. Ad­min­is­tra­tion and pay­ment

 

1 If di­li­gent ad­min­is­tra­tion so re­quires, the cred­it­or may give no­tice to ter­min­ate the pledged claim and col­lect the debt and the pledgee is en­titled to re­quest that such pro­ced­ures be car­ried out.

2 Once no­ti­fied of the pledge, the debt­or may make pay­ment to either the cred­it­or or the pledgee, but only with the oth­er party’s con­sent.

3 Where no such con­sent is forth­com­ing, he or she must de­pos­it the amount due.

Chapter Three: Pawnbroking

Art. 907  

A. Pawn­brokers

I. Li­cens­ing

 

1 Any per­son wish­ing to op­er­ate as a pawn­broker re­quires a li­cence from the can­ton­al gov­ern­ment.

2 Can­ton­al law may provide that such li­cences are gran­ted only to can­ton­al or com­mun­al bod­ies and char­it­able or­gan­isa­tions.

3 The can­tons may levy fees from pawn­brokers.

Art. 908  

II. Dur­a­tion of li­cence

 

1 A li­cences is gran­ted to private pawn­brokers for a spe­cif­ic peri­od only, but may be re­newed.

2 A li­cence may be re­voked at any time if the pawn­broker fails to com­ply with the pro­vi­sions ap­plic­able to his or her busi­ness.

Art. 909  

B. Pawn­ing

I. Es­tab­lish­ment

 

A chat­tel is pawned by de­liv­er­ing it to the pawn­broker against re­ceipt.

Art. 910  

II. Ef­fect

1. Sale of pawned chat­tel

 

1 If the pawned chat­tel is not re­deemed by the re­demp­tion dead­line, the pawn­broker may sell it at pub­lic auc­tion after mak­ing a pri­or call for re­demp­tion.

2 The pawn­broker has no claim against the pledger.

Art. 911  

2. Right to sur­plus

 

1 If the auc­tion pro­ceeds ex­ceed the pawned amount, the pledger is en­titled to the sur­plus.

2 Sev­er­al claims against the same pledger may be treated as a single claim for the pur­pose of cal­cu­lat­ing the sur­plus.

3 The claim to the sur­plus pre­scribes five years after the sale of the pawned chat­tel.

Art. 912  

III. Re­demp­tion of the pawned chat­tel

1. Right of re­demp­tion

 

1 Provided it has not yet been sold, the pledger may re­deem the pawned chat­tel against re­turn of the re­ceipt.

2 If the pledger is un­able to present the re­ceipt, he or she is en­titled to re­deem the pawned chat­tel after the re­demp­tion dead­line provided he or she es­tab­lishes his or her en­ti­tle­ment.

3 As of six months after the re­demp­tion dead­line, the pledger also has such right even where the pawn­broker has ex­pressly re­served the right to re­lease the pawned chat­tel only against re­turn of the re­ceipt.

Art. 913  

2. Pawn­broker’s rights

 

1 On re­demp­tion the pawn­broker is en­titled to charge in­terest for the full cur­rent month.

2 If the pawn­broker has ex­pressly re­served the right to re­turn the pawned chat­tel to any bear­er of the pawn re­ceipt, he or she may do so as long as he or she does not know and could not reas­on­ably be ex­pec­ted to know that the bear­er ac­quired the re­ceipt un­law­fully.

Art. 914  

C. Pur­chase with right of re­pur­chase

 

Com­mer­cial pur­chases with right of re­pur­chase are deemed equi­val­ent to pawn­brok­ing.

Art. 915  

D. Rules gov­ern­ing pawn­brok­ing

 

1 Can­ton­al law may is­sue fur­ther reg­u­la­tions gov­ern­ing pawn­brok­ing.

2 ...674

674 Re­pealed by Sec­tion II 21 of the FA of 15 Dec. 1989 on the Ap­prov­al of Can­ton­al De­crees by the Con­fed­er­a­tion, with ef­fect from 1 Feb. 1991 (AS 1991 362; BBl 1988 II 1333).

Chapter Four: ...

Art. 916918675  
 

675Re­pealed by Art. 52 No 2 of the Mort­gage Bond Act of 25 June 1930, with ef­fect from 1 Feb. 1931 (BS 2 747; BBl 1925III 527).

Division Three: Possession and the Land Register

Title Twenty-Four: Possession

Art. 919  

A. Defin­i­tion and types

I. Defin­i­tion

 

1 Ef­fect­ive con­trol over a thing con­sti­tutes pos­ses­sion of it.

2 In the case of ease­ments and real bur­dens, ef­fect­ive ex­er­cise of the right con­sti­tutes pos­ses­sion.

Art. 920  

II. Dir­ect and de­riv­at­ive pos­ses­sion

 

1 Where the pos­sessor trans­fers an ob­ject to a third party in or­der to con­fer on him or her a lim­ited right in rem or a per­son­al right, both are con­sidered to have pos­ses­sion.

2 The own­er of the ob­ject has dir­ect pos­ses­sion and any oth­er pos­sessor has de­riv­at­ive pos­ses­sion.

Art. 921  

III. Tem­por­ary in­ter­rup­tion

 

Pos­ses­sion is not lost if the ex­er­cise of ef­fect­ive con­trol is im­peded or in­ter­rup­ted by oc­cur­rences of a tem­por­ary nature.

Art. 922  

B. Trans­fer

I. Among parties present in per­son

 

1 Pos­ses­sion is trans­ferred by the de­liv­ery of the ob­ject it­self or of the means by which the re­cip­i­ent may gain ef­fect­ive con­trol of it.

2 Trans­fer is com­plete once the trans­fer­ee is able to ex­er­cise ef­fect­ive con­trol over the ob­ject with the con­sent of the pri­or pos­sessor.

Art. 923  

II. Among ab­sent per­sons

 

Trans­fer among per­sons who are ab­sent is com­pleted on de­liv­ery of the ob­ject to the trans­fer­ee or his or her rep­res­ent­at­ive.

Art. 924  

III. Without phys­ic­al trans­fer

 

1 Pos­ses­sion of an ob­ject may be ac­quired without phys­ic­al de­liv­ery if a third party or the trans­fer­or him­self re­tains pos­ses­sion of it in terms of a spe­cial leg­al re­la­tion­ship.

2 The trans­fer is not bind­ing on the third party who re­tains pos­ses­sion of the ob­ject un­til he or she has been no­ti­fied there­of by the trans­fer­or.

3 The third party is en­titled to re­fuse de­liv­ery to the ac­quirer for the same reas­ons for which he or she could have re­fused de­liv­ery to the trans­fer­or.

Art. 925  

IV. In the case of doc­u­ments of title to goods

 

1 De­liv­ery of doc­u­ments of title to goods which have been con­signed to a car­ri­er or a ware­house is equi­val­ent to the de­liv­ery of the goods them­selves.

2 However, where a bona fide ac­quirer of the doc­u­ment of title to goods is in con­flict with a bona fide ac­quirer of the goods, the lat­ter has pri­or­ity.

Art. 926  

C. Leg­al rem­ed­ies

I. Pro­tec­tion of pos­ses­sion

1. De­fence against in­ter­fer­ence

 

1 A pos­sessor has the right to use force in self-de­fence against any un­law­ful in­ter­fer­ence.

2 If he or she has been dis­pos­sessed of an ob­ject by force or by clandes­tine means, he or she has the right to re­cov­er it im­me­di­ately by ex­pelling the tres­pass­er from the prop­erty or, in the case of a chat­tel, by tak­ing it from a per­son caught in the act and pur­sued im­me­di­ately.

3 In do­ing so, he or she must ab­stain from all force not jus­ti­fied by the cir­cum­stances.

Art. 927  

2. Ac­tion for resti­tu­tion

 

1 A per­son who wrong­fully dis­pos­sesses an­oth­er of an ob­ject is ob­liged to re­turn it, even if he or she claims a bet­ter right to it.

2 If the de­fend­ant may im­me­di­ately show a bet­ter right en­titling him or her to re­claim the ob­ject from the claimant, he or she may re­fuse to re­turn it.

3 The claim is for resti­tu­tion of the ob­ject plus dam­ages.

Art. 928  

3. Ac­tion for tres­pass

 

1 A pos­sessor dis­turbed by tres­pass may bring an ac­tion against the tres­pass­er even if the lat­ter claims to be in the right.

2 The claim is for ces­sa­tion of tres­pass, pro­hib­i­tion of fur­ther tres­pass and dam­ages.

Art. 929  

4. Ad­miss­ib­il­ity and pre­scrip­tion

 

1 An ac­tion for resti­tu­tion or tres­pass is only ad­miss­ible if the pos­sessor sues for resti­tu­tion of the ob­ject or for ces­sa­tion of tres­pass im­me­di­ately on be­com­ing aware of the in­ter­fer­ence in his or her rights and the iden­tity of the tres­pass­er.

2 The ac­tion pre­scribes one year after the date of the tres­pass or dis­pos­ses­sion even if the claimant did not be­come aware of the in­ter­fer­ence in his or her rights and the iden­tity of the tres­pass­er un­til a later date.

Art. 930  

II. Rem­ed­ies

1. Pre­sump­tion of own­er­ship

 

1 The pos­sessor of a chat­tel is pre­sumed to be its own­er.

2 Each pre­vi­ous pos­sessor is pre­sumed to have been the own­er of the chat­tel while it was in his or her pos­ses­sion.

Art. 931  

2. Pre­sump­tion of in­dir­ect own­er­ship

 

1 The pos­sessor of a chat­tel who does not pur­port to be its own­er may in­voke the pre­sump­tion that the per­son from whom he or she re­ceived it in good faith is the own­er.

2 Where a per­son pos­sess­ing a chat­tel in­vokes a lim­ited right in rem or a per­son­al right, the ex­ist­ence of such a right is pre­sumed, but such pre­sump­tion can­not be in­voked against the per­son from whom the pos­sessor re­ceived the chat­tel.

Art. 932  

3. Ac­tion against the pos­sessor

 

The pos­sessor of a chat­tel may in­voke the pre­sump­tion of his or her bet­ter right in any ac­tion brought against him, sub­ject to the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing wrong­ful dis­pos­ses­sion or tres­pass.

Art. 933  

4. Power of dis­pos­al and right of resti­tu­tion

a. En­trus­ted ob­jects

 

A per­son who takes pos­ses­sion of a chat­tel in good faith in or­der to be­come its own­er or to ac­quire a lim­ited right in rem is pro­tec­ted therein even if the chat­tel was en­trus­ted to the trans­fer­or without any au­thor­ity to ef­fect the trans­fer.

Art. 934  

b. Stolen or lost chat­tels

 

1 A pos­sessor whose chat­tel has been stolen or lost, or who has oth­er­wise been dis­pos­sessed of it against his or her will, may re­claim it from any pos­sessor with­in a peri­od of five years. Art­icle 722 is re­served.676

1bis The right to re­cov­er an ob­ject of cul­tur­al her­it­age as defined by Art­icle 2 para­graph 1 of the Cul­tur­al Prop­erty Trans­fer Act of 20 June 2003677, pos­ses­sion of which has been lost against the own­er’s will, pre­scribes one year after the own­er be­comes aware of where and by whom such ob­ject is be­ing held, but at the latest 30 years after the loss.678

2 If a chat­tel has been sold at pub­lic auc­tion, or on the mar­ket, or by a mer­chant deal­ing in goods of the same kind, it may be re­claimed from the first and any sub­sequent bona fide pur­chaser only against re­im­burse­ment of the price paid.

3 In oth­er re­spects, resti­tu­tion is sub­ject to the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing pos­ses­sion in good faith.

676 Amended by No I of the FA of 4 Oct. 2002 (Art­icle of Ba­sic Prin­ciples: An­im­als), in force since 1 April 2003 (AS 2003 463; BBl 2002 41645086).

677 SR 444.1

678 In­ser­ted by Art. 32 No 1 of the Fed­er­al Act on Trans­fer of Cul­tur­al Her­it­age of 20 June 2003, in force since 1 June 2005 (AS 20051869; BBl 2002 535).

Art. 935  

c. Cash and bear­er se­cur­it­ies

 

Cash and bear­er se­cur­it­ies can­not be re­claimed from a re­cip­i­ent in good faith even if the pos­sessor was dis­pos­sessed of them against his or her will.

Art. 936  

d. Bad faith

 

1 A per­son who has not ac­quired a chat­tel in good faith may be re­quired by the pre­vi­ous pos­sessor to re­turn it at any time.

2 However, if the pre­vi­ous pos­sessor like­wise did not ac­quire the chat­tel in good faith, he or she can­not re­claim the chat­tel from any sub­sequent pos­sessor.

Art. 937  

5. Pre­sump­tion of title to land

 

1 In re­spect of land re­cor­ded in the land re­gister, only the per­son re­gistered may in­voke pre­sump­tion of title and bring an ac­tion for re­cov­ery of pos­ses­sion.

2 However, a per­son who ex­er­cises ef­fect­ive con­trol over the land may bring an ac­tion for wrong­ful dis­pos­ses­sion or tres­pass.

Art. 938  

III. Li­ab­il­ity

1. Pos­sessor in good faith

a. Use

 

1 A per­son pos­sess­ing an ob­ject in good faith is not li­able to its right­ful own­er for the con­sequences of us­ing it in ac­cord­ance with his or her pre­sumed right.

2 He or she is not ob­liged to re­place what has been lost or dam­aged.

Art. 939  

b. In­dem­nity

 

1 Where the right­ful own­er re­quests resti­tu­tion of an ob­ject, the pos­sessor in good faith may re­quest in­dem­ni­fic­a­tion for any ne­ces­sary or use­ful ex­pendit­ure in­curred and may re­fuse to sur­render the ob­ject un­til such in­dem­ni­fic­a­tion is forth­com­ing.

2 He or she has no right to in­dem­ni­fic­a­tion of oth­er ex­pendit­ure, but where none is proffered, he or she may re­move any­thing for which he or she has in­curred cost, provided this may be done without dam­aging the prop­erty.

3 Any fruits col­lec­ted by a pos­sessor are set off against his or her claim for in­dem­ni­fic­a­tion.

Art. 940  

2. Pos­ses­sion in bad faith

 

1 A per­son pos­sess­ing an ob­ject in bad faith must re­turn it to the right­ful own­er and com­pensate him or her for any dam­age res­ult­ing from such wrong­ful pos­ses­sion, in­clud­ing any fruits he or she col­lec­ted or failed to col­lect.

2 He or she may claim in­dem­ni­fic­a­tion only of such ex­pendit­ure as the right­ful own­er would also have had to in­cur.

3 As long as a pos­sessor does not know to whom he or she must sur­render the ob­ject, he or she is only li­able for dam­age for which he or she is at fault.

Art. 941  

IV. Ad­verse pos­ses­sion

 

A pos­sessor ful­filling the re­quire­ments of ad­verse pos­ses­sion may count his or her pre­de­cessor’s peri­od of pos­ses­sion as part of his or her own provided his or her pre­de­cessor’s pos­ses­sion also qual­i­fied as ad­verse pos­ses­sion.

Title Twenty-Five: The Land Register

Art. 942  

A. Or­gan­isa­tion

I. Con­stitu­ent parts

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 The land re­gister is kept as a re­cord of prop­erty rights.

2 It con­sists of the main re­gister, the plans, prop­erty dir­ect­or­ies, sup­port­ing doc­u­ments and prop­erty de­scrip­tions ap­pen­ded to the main re­gister, and the journ­al.

3 The land re­gister may be kept on pa­per or elec­tron­ic­ally.679

4 Where the land re­gister is kept elec­tron­ic­ally, leg­al ef­fect at­taches to such data as are prop­erly stored in the sys­tem and legible in let­ters and fig­ures or dis­played on plans by means of the tech­nic­al cap­ab­il­it­ies of the devices and equip­ment used by the land re­gister of­fice.680

679 In­ser­ted by An­nex 1 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2003 on Elec­tron­ic Sig­na­tures, in force since 1 Jan. 2005 (AS 20045085; BBl 20015679).

680 In­ser­ted by An­nex 1 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2003 on Elec­tron­ic Sig­na­tures, in force since 1 Jan. 2005 (AS 20045085; BBl 20015679).

Art. 943681  

2. Re­gistered data

a. Ob­ject

 

1 The fol­low­ing are re­cor­ded in the land re­gister as im­mov­able prop­erty:

1.
par­cels of land and the build­ings there­on;
2.
dis­tinct and per­man­ent rights re­cor­ded in the land re­gister;
3.
mines;
4.
co-own­er­ship shares in im­mov­able prop­erty.

2 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil is­sues de­tailed reg­u­la­tions gov­ern­ing the pre­requis­ites for and meth­od of re­gis­tra­tion of dis­tinct and per­man­ent rights, mines and co-own­er­ship shares in im­mov­able prop­erty.

681Amended by No I of the FA of 19 Dec. 1963, in force since 1 Jan. 1965 (AS 1964 993; BBl 1962 II 1461).

Art. 944  

b. Ex­cep­tions

 

1 Im­mov­able prop­erty which is not privately owned and is in pub­lic use will be re­cor­ded in the land re­gister only if rights in rem at­tach­ing to such prop­erty are to be re­gistered or if can­ton­al law provides for its re­gis­tra­tion.

2 If re­gistered im­mov­able prop­erty is trans­formed in­to prop­erty that is not sub­ject to re­gis­tra­tion, it is de­leted from the land re­gister.

3 ...682

682Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 4 Oct. 1991 on the Par­tial Re­vi­sion of the Civil Code (Im­move­able Prop­erty Law) and the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions (Sale of Im­move­able Prop­erty), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 1994 (AS 1993 1404; BBl 1988 III 953).

Art. 945  

3. Re­gisters

a. Main Re­gister

 

1 Each item of im­mov­able prop­erty has its own fo­lio and num­ber in the main re­gister.

2 The pro­ced­ure to be fol­lowed in the event of the di­vi­sion or con­sol­id­a­tion of im­mov­able prop­erty is de­term­ined by Fed­er­al Coun­cil or­din­ance.

Art. 946  

b. Fo­lio

 

1 The fol­low­ing data is entered in sep­ar­ate sec­tions on each fo­lio:

1.
own­er­ship;
2.
the ease­ments and real bur­dens es­tab­lished in fa­vour of or en­cum­ber­ing the prop­erty;
3.
the li­ens with which it is en­cumbered.

2 Ac­cessor­ies may be noted on the fo­lio at the own­er’s re­quest and, once noted, may be de­leted only with the con­sent of all such in­ter­ested parties as are evid­ent from the land re­gister.

Art. 947  

c. Joint fo­lio

 

1 Two or more par­cels of land may be entered on one fo­lio with the own­er’s con­sent, re­gard­less of wheth­er they are con­tigu­ous.

2 The entries on such fo­lio are val­id for all the land in ques­tion with the ex­cep­tion of ease­ments.

3 The own­er may at any time re­quest that entries for in­di­vidu­al par­cels of land be re­moved from a joint fo­lio, all rights be­ing re­served.

Art. 948  

d. Journ­al, sup­port­ing doc­u­ments

 

1 Ap­plic­a­tions for entry in the land re­gister are re­cor­ded without delay in the journ­al in chro­no­lo­gic­al or­der in­dic­at­ing the ap­plic­ant and the ob­ject of his or her re­quest.

2 Sup­port­ing doc­u­ments are duly clas­si­fied and archived.

3 In can­tons where the land re­gis­trar is au­thor­ised to draw up pub­lic deeds, the sup­port­ing doc­u­ments may be re­placed by an of­fi­cial re­cord whose entries con­sti­tute pub­lic deeds.

Art. 949  

4. Im­ple­ment­ing or­din­ances

a. In gen­er­al

 

1 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil pre­scribes the land re­gister forms, is­sues the ne­ces­sary reg­u­la­tions and reg­u­lates at its dis­cre­tion the keep­ing of aux­il­i­ary re­gisters.

2 The can­tons may es­tab­lish spe­cial pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing the re­gis­tra­tion of rights in rem on land un­der can­ton­al law, but such pro­vi­sions be­come val­id only when ap­proved by the Con­fed­er­a­tion.

Art. 949a684  

b. For elec­tron­ic re­gisters

 

1 A can­ton wish­ing to keep the land re­gister elec­tron­ic­ally must ob­tain the ap­prov­al of the Fed­er­al De­part­ment of Justice and Po­lice.

2 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil reg­u­lates:

1.
the au­thor­isa­tion pro­ced­ure;
2.
the scope and tech­nic­al de­tails of the elec­tron­ic land re­gister, par­tic­u­larly the pro­ced­ure by which entries be­come ef­fect­ive;
3.
wheth­er and on what con­di­tions elec­tron­ic com­mu­nic­a­tion with the land re­gister of­fice is per­miss­ible;
4.
wheth­er and on what con­di­tions the pub­lic will be giv­en ac­cess to un­res­tric­ted data re­cor­ded in the main re­gister;
5.
data ac­cess, the log­ging of re­triev­al re­quests and con­di­tions for the with­draw­al of user en­ti­tle­ments in the event of ab­use;
6.
data pro­tec­tion;
7.
long-term data se­cur­ity and data archiv­ing.

3 The Fed­er­al De­part­ment of Justice and Po­lice and the Fed­er­al De­part­ment of De­fence, Civil Pro­tec­tion and Sport define data mod­els and stand­ard in­ter­faces for the land re­gister and of­fi­cial land sur­veys.

684In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 4 Oct. 1991 on the Par­tial Re­vi­sion of the Civil Code (Im­mov­able Prop­erty Law) and of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions (Pur­chase of Land; AS 1993 1404; BBl 1988 III 953). Amended by No 1 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2003 on Elec­tron­ic Sig­na­tures, in force since 1 Jan. 2005 (AS 20045085; BBl 20015679).

Art. 949b685  

4a. Per­son­al iden­ti­fi­er in the land re­gister

 

1 The land re­gister of­fices shall sys­tem­at­ic­ally use the OASI num­ber to identi­fy per­sons.

2 They shall only dis­close the OASI num­ber to oth­er bod­ies and in­sti­tu­tions that re­quire the num­ber in or­der to ful­fil their stat­utory du­ties in con­nec­tion with the land re­gister and which are en­titled to make sys­tem­at­ic use of this num­ber.

685 In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 15 Dec. 2017 (Re­gis­tra­tion of Civil Status and Land Re­gister), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2018 4017; 2021 917; BBl 2014 3551).

Art. 949c686  

4b. Na­tion­al im­mov­able prop­erty search

 

The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall reg­u­late the na­tion­al search by the com­pet­ent au­thor­it­ies for im­mov­able prop­er­ties in which a per­son iden­ti­fied by their OASI num­ber holds rights.

686 In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 15 Dec. 2017 (Re­gis­tra­tion of Civil Status and Land Re­gister), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2018 4017; 2021 917; BBl 2014 3551).

Art. 949d687  

4c. Com­mis­sion­ing private in­di­vidu­als to use the elec­tron­ic ver­sion of the land re­gister

 

1 The can­tons which main­tain the land re­gister elec­tron­ic­ally may com­mis­sion private in­di­vidu­als to:

1.
en­sure ac­cess to the data in the land re­gister in the re­triev­al pro­cess;
2.
en­sure pub­lic ac­cess to the data of the main re­gister which can be viewed without proof of in­terest;
3.
to carry out elec­tron­ic trans­ac­tions with the land re­gister of­fice.

2 The com­mis­sioned in­di­vidu­als are sub­ject to the over­sight of the can­tons and of the Con­fed­er­a­tion.

687 In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 15 Dec. 2017 (Re­gis­tra­tion of Civil Status and Land Re­gister), in force since 1 Jan. 2019 (AS 2018 4017; BBl 2014 3551).

Art. 950688  

5. Of­fi­cial ca­das­tral sur­vey

 

1 The entry for and de­scrip­tion of each par­cel of land in the re­gister are based on the of­fi­cial ca­das­tral sur­vey, and in par­tic­u­lar on a plan drawn for the land re­gister.

2 The Geoin­form­a­tion Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 2007689 reg­u­lates the qual­it­at­ive and tech­nic­al re­quire­ments of the of­fi­cial ca­das­tral sur­vey.

688 Amended by An­nex No II of the FA of 5 Oct. 2007 on Geoin­form­a­tion, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2008 (AS 20082793; BBl 20067817).

689 SR 510.62

Art. 951  

II. Keep­ing the re­gister

1. Dis­tricts

a. Al­loc­a­tion to dis­tricts

 

1 For land re­gister pur­poses the can­tons are di­vided in­to dis­tricts.

2 Im­mov­able prop­erty is entered in the re­gister for the dis­trict in which it is situ­ated.

Art. 952  

b. Land strad­dling more than one dis­trict

 

1 Im­mov­able prop­erty that lies in more than one dis­trict is entered in the re­gister of each dis­trict, with ref­er­ence be­ing made to the re­gister of the oth­er dis­tricts.

2 Entries which es­tab­lish rights are to be made in the re­gister of the dis­trict in which the largest part of the prop­erty is situ­ated.

3 Entries in this land re­gister will be no­ti­fied by the re­gis­trar to the oth­er land re­gister of­fices.


Art. 953  

2. Land re­gister of­fices

 

1 The can­tons are re­spons­ible for set­ting up the land re­gister of­fices, the de­marc­a­tion of the dis­tricts, the ap­point­ment and re­mu­ner­a­tion of of­fi­cials and su­per­vi­sion ar­range­ments.

2 The reg­u­la­tions is­sued by the can­tons, save for those con­cern­ing the ap­point­ment and re­mu­ner­a­tion of of­fi­cials, are sub­ject to ap­prov­al by the Con­fed­er­a­tion.690

690Amended by No II 21 of the FA of 15 Dec. 1989 on the Ap­prov­al of Can­ton­al De­crees by the Con­fed­er­a­tion, in force since 1 Feb. 1991 (AS 1991362; BBl 1988II 1333).

Art. 954  

3. Fees

 

1 The can­tons may levy fees for entry in the land re­gister and for the ne­ces­sary sur­veys.

2 No charge may be made for entries re­lat­ing to land im­prove­ments or to land ex­changes for the pur­pose of ag­ri­cul­tur­al con­sol­id­a­tion.

Art. 955  

III. Li­ab­il­ity

 

1 The can­tons are li­able for any dam­age arising from the main­ten­ance of the land re­gister.

2 They have a right of re­course against the land re­gister of­fi­cials and em­ploy­ees and against the im­me­di­ate su­per­vis­ory bod­ies if they are at fault.

3 They may re­quire the of­fi­cials and em­ploy­ees to provide se­cur­ity.

Art. 956692  

IV. Ad­min­is­trat­ive su­per­vi­sion

 

1 The man­age­ment of the land re­gister of­fices is sub­ject to the ad­min­is­trat­ive su­per­vi­sion of the can­tons.

2 The Con­fed­er­a­tion ex­er­cises the su­per­vis­ory con­trol.

692 Amended by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 956a693  

V. Leg­al pro­tec­tion

1. Right of ap­peal

 

1 A rul­ing is­sued by the land re­gister of­fice may be con­tested be­fore an au­thor­ity des­ig­nated by the can­ton; a rul­ing in­cludes the un­law­ful re­fus­al to carry out or delay in car­ry­ing out an of­fi­cial act.

2 The fol­low­ing per­sons are en­titled to ap­peal:

1.
any per­son who suf­fers par­tic­u­lar pre­ju­dice due to a rul­ing is­sued by the land re­gister of­fice and who has a le­git­im­ate in­terest in its re­voc­a­tion or amend­ment;
2.
the can­ton­al ad­min­is­trat­ive su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity it has a right of ap­peal un­der can­ton­al law;
3.
the fed­er­al su­per­vis­ory au­thor­ity.

3 No ap­peal may be brought against an entry, amend­ment or de­le­tion of rights in rem or pri­or­ity no­tices ex­ecuted in the main re­gister.

693 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 956b694  

2. Ap­peal pro­ceed­ings

 

1 The peri­od with­in which an ap­peal to the can­ton­al ap­pel­late au­thor­it­ies must be filed amounts to 30 days.

2 Where the land re­gister of­fice re­fuses to carry out or delays in car­ry­ing out a spe­cif­ic of­fi­cial act, however, an ap­peal may be filed at any time.

694 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 957695  
 

695 Re­pealed by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 958  

B. Re­gis­tra­tion

I. Land re­gister entries

1. Own­er­ship and rights in rem

 

The fol­low­ing rights to im­mov­able prop­erty are re­cor­ded in the land re­gister:

1.
own­er­ship;
2.
ease­ments and real bur­dens;
3.
li­ens.
Art. 959  

2. Pri­or­ity no­tices

a. Per­son­al rights

 

1 Per­son­al rights may be entered un­der pri­or­ity no­tice in the land re­gister where such no­tices are ex­pressly provided for by law, as is the case for a right of pre-emption, right of re­pur­chase, right of pur­chase, usu­fructu­ary lease and ten­ancy.

2 By vir­tue of be­ing entered un­der pri­or­ity no­tice, they may be in­voked against any rights sub­sequently ac­quired.

Art. 960  

b. Re­stric­tions on powers of dis­pos­al

 

1 Re­stric­tions on powers of dis­pos­al may be entered un­der pri­or­ity no­tice for in­di­vidu­al par­cels of land if they res­ult from:

1.
an of­fi­cial or­der made to se­cure dis­puted or en­force­able claims;
2.696
a dis­traint or­der;
3.697
a case in which entry un­der pri­or­ity no­tice is en­vis­aged by law, such as a re­main­der­man’s ex­pect­ancy.

2 On entry un­der pri­or­ity no­tice, the re­stric­tions on powers of dis­pos­al be­come ef­fect­ive against all sub­sequently ac­quired rights.

696Amended by An­nex No 4 of the FA of 16 Dec. 1994, in force since 1 Jan. 1997 (AS 1995 1227; BBl 1991 III 1).

697 Amended by No I 4 of the Fed­er­al Act of 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1).

Art. 961  

c. Pro­vi­sion­al entries

 

1 Pro­vi­sion­al entries may be made in the land re­gister:

1.
in or­der to se­cure as­ser­ted rights in rem;
2.
in the cases where the law per­mits the ap­plic­ant to com­plete his or her ap­plic­a­tion.

2 They are made either with the con­sent of all in­ter­ested parties or by court or­der and the right, provided it is later con­firmed, be­comes ef­fect­ive in rem as of the date of the pro­vi­sion­al entry.

3 The court rules on the ap­plic­a­tion and, provided the ap­plic­ant sat­is­fies the court of his or her en­ti­tle­ment, ap­proves the pro­vi­sion­al entry, pre­cisely spe­cify­ing its nature, dur­a­tion and ef­fect and, where ne­ces­sary, set­ting a time lim­it with­in which the ap­plic­ant must bring an ac­tion to as­sert his or her rights.698

698 Amended by An­nex 1 No II 3 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Art. 961a699  

d. Entry of sub­or­din­ate rights

 

A pri­or­ity no­tice in the land re­gister does not pre­clude the re­gis­tra­tion of a right with a sub­or­din­ate rank.

699In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 4 Oct. 1991 on the Par­tial Re­vi­sion of the Civil Code (Im­mov­able Prop­erty Law) and of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions (Pur­chase of Land), in force since 1 Jan. 1994 (AS 1993 1404; BBl 1988 III 953).

Art. 962700  

II. Not­ing

1. Re­stric­tions un­der pub­lic law

 

1 The state au­thor­ity or an­oth­er pub­lic body must ar­range for a pub­lic law re­stric­tion on own­er­ship ordered in re­spect of a spe­cif­ic prop­erty that im­poses a per­man­ent re­stric­tion on use or power of dis­pos­al or duty re­lat­ing to the prop­erty on the own­er to be noted in the land re­gister.

2 Where the re­stric­tion on own­er­ship ceases to ap­ply, the state au­thor­ity or the oth­er pub­lic body must ar­range for the note to be de­leted from the land re­gister. If the state au­thor­ity or the oth­er pub­lic body fails to act, the land re­gister of­fice may de­lete the note ex of­fi­cio.

3 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall stip­u­late the areas of can­ton­al law in which re­stric­tions on own­er­ship must be noted in the land re­gister. The can­tons may provide for ad­di­tion­al notes. They shall draw up a list of cir­cum­stances re­quir­ing a note, which must be passed on to the Con­fed­er­a­tion.

700 Amended by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 962a701  

2. Of rep­res­ent­at­ives

 

The fol­low­ing may be noted in the land re­gister:

1.
the stat­utory rep­res­ent­at­ive at his or her re­quest or at the re­quest of the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity;
2.
the es­tate ad­min­is­trat­or, the rep­res­ent­at­ive of the heirs, the of­fi­cial li­quid­at­or and the ex­ecut­ors at their re­quest or at the re­quest of the heirs or the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity;
3.
the rep­res­ent­at­ive of an own­er, charge cred­it­or or ease­ment be­ne­fi­ciary whose where­abouts are un­known at his or her re­quest or at the re­quest of the court;
4.
the rep­res­ent­at­ive of a leg­al en­tity or oth­er rights hold­er in the ab­sence of the re­quired man­age­ment body at his or her re­quest or at the re­quest of the court;
5.
the ad­min­is­trat­or of a con­domin­i­um as­so­ci­ation at his or her re­quest or at the re­quest of the con­domin­i­um own­ers meet­ing or of the court.

701 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 963  

III. Re­quire­ments for entry

1. Ap­plic­a­tions

a. For an entry

 

1 Entries in the land re­gister are based on a writ­ten de­clar­a­tion by the own­er of the im­mov­able prop­erty to which the entry relates.

2 No de­clar­a­tion by the own­er is re­quired where the ac­quirer may rely on a pro­vi­sion of the law, a fi­nal court judg­ment or a doc­u­ment hav­ing ef­fect equal to that of a court judg­ment.

3 The of­fi­cials au­thor­ised to ex­ecute pub­lic deeds may be in­struc­ted by the can­tons to no­ti­fy the trans­ac­tions cer­ti­fied by such deeds for entry in the land re­gister.

Art. 964  

b. For a de­le­tion

 

1 Amend­ment or de­le­tion of an entry in the land re­gister re­quires an de­clar­a­tion in writ­ing by the per­son whose en­ti­tle­ment res­ults from the entry.

2 Such ap­plic­a­tion may be made by sign­ing the journ­al.

Art. 965  

2. Au­thor­ity

a. Val­id proof of au­thor­ity

 

1 A dis­pos­i­tion in the land re­gister, such as an entry, amend­ment or de­le­tion, may be made only on the basis of doc­u­ments es­tab­lish­ing the right to make such dis­pos­i­tion and its leg­al basis.

2 Au­thor­ity to re­quest a dis­pos­i­tion is es­tab­lished by proof that the ap­plic­ant is the per­son en­titled by vir­tue of the entry in the land re­gister or has been duly ves­ted with a power of at­tor­ney by said per­son.

3 The leg­al basis for the re­ques­ted dis­pos­i­tion is es­tab­lished by proof that the form­al re­quire­ments have been ob­served.

Art. 966  

b. Com­ple­tion of ap­plic­a­tion

 

1 Where the doc­u­ment­a­tion re­quired for a dis­pos­i­tion in the land re­gister is not forth­com­ing, the ap­plic­a­tion is re­jec­ted.

2 However, provided the leg­al basis is es­tab­lished and the ap­plic­a­tion lacks only cer­tain doc­u­ments, a pro­vi­sion­al entry may be made with the own­er’s con­sent or by court or­der.

Art. 967  

IV. Man­ner of entry

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 The entries in the main re­gister are made in the or­der in which ap­plic­a­tions are re­ceived or in which cer­ti­fic­a­tions and de­clar­a­tions are signed by the land re­gis­trar.

2 In­ter­ested parties will be provided on re­quest with an ex­tract of the entry.

3 The form­al re­quire­ments for entries, de­le­tions and ex­tracts are reg­u­lated by the Fed­er­al Coun­cil.


Art. 968  

2. For ease­ments

 

Ease­ments are entered and de­leted on the fo­li­os of both the dom­in­ant and ser­vi­ent prop­er­ties.

Art. 969  

V. Duty to no­ti­fy

 

1 The re­gis­trar must no­ti­fy in­ter­ested parties of all dis­pos­i­tions in the land re­gister made without their know­ledge; he or she shall, in par­tic­u­lar, no­ti­fy any ac­quis­i­tion of own­er­ship by a third party to parties with rights of pre-emption which are entered un­der pri­or­ity no­tice in the land re­gister or to parties with rights which ex­ist by law and are evid­ent from the land re­gister.702

2 The time lim­it for chal­len­ging such dis­pos­i­tions be­gins on re­ceipt of such no­ti­fic­a­tion.

702Amended by No I of the FA of 4 Oct. 1991 on the Par­tial Re­vi­sion of the Civil Code (Im­mov­able Prop­erty Law) and of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions (Pur­chase of Land), in force since 1 Jan. 1994 (AS 1993 1404; BBl 1988 III 953).

Art. 970703  

C. Pub­lic nature of land re­gister

I. In­form­a­tion and right of con­sulta­tion

 

1 Any per­son show­ing a le­git­im­ate in­terest is en­titled to con­sult the land re­gister or to be provided with an ex­tract.

2 A per­son is en­titled to ob­tain the fol­low­ing in­form­a­tion from the main re­gister without show­ing a le­git­im­ate in­terest:

1.
the name and de­scrip­tion of the im­mov­able prop­erty;
2.
the name and iden­tity of the own­er;
3.
the form of own­er­ship and the date of ac­quis­i­tion.

3 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall spe­cify oth­er par­tic­u­lars of ease­ments, real bur­dens and no­tices in the re­gister which may be made pub­lic without the need to show a le­git­im­ate in­terest. It shall pay due re­gard to the pro­tec­tion of per­son­al pri­vacy.

4 An ob­jec­tion based on ig­nor­ance of a land re­gister entry is in­ad­miss­ible.

703 Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 19 Dec 2003 on Elec­tron­ic Sig­na­tures, in force since 1 Jan. 2005 (AS 20045085; BBl 20015679).

Art. 970a704  

II. Pub­lic­a­tion

 

1 The can­tons may provide that all ac­quis­i­tions of im­mov­able prop­erty be pub­lished.

2 They may not pub­lish the con­sid­er­a­tion in­volved in a di­vi­sion of es­tate, an ad­vance against a per­son’s share of an in­her­it­ance, a mar­it­al agree­ment or a li­quid­a­tion of mar­it­al prop­erty.

704In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 4 Oct. 1991 on the Par­tial Re­vi­sion of the Civil Code (Im­mov­able Prop­erty Law) and of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions (Pur­chase of Land; AS 1993 1404; BBl 1988 III 953). Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2003 on Elec­tron­ic Sig­na­tures, in force since 1 Jan. 2005 (AS 20045085; BBl 20015679).

Art. 971  

D. Ef­fect

I. Need for an entry

 

1 Where the es­tab­lish­ment of a right in rem is sub­ject to entry in the land re­gister, such right has ef­fect in rem only if it has been entered.

2 With­in the lim­its of such entry, the scope of a right may be es­tab­lished by sup­port­ing doc­u­ments or in some oth­er man­ner.

Art. 972  

II. Ef­fect of entry

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 Rights in rem are es­tab­lished and as­signed their rank and date by vir­tue of be­ing entered in the main re­gister.

2 The entry has ret­ro­act­ive ef­fect as of its re­cord­ing in the journ­al, provided the sup­port­ing doc­u­ments re­quired by law are in­cluded with the ap­plic­a­tion or, in the case of pro­vi­sion­al entries, are sub­mit­ted in good time.

3 In can­tons where the re­gis­trar draws up pub­lic deeds by means of an entry in an of­fi­cial re­cord of title, such a re­cord con­sti­tutes entry in the journ­al.

Art. 973  

2. In re­la­tion to third parties act­ing in good faith

 

1 Any per­son who, re­ly­ing in good faith on an entry in the land re­gister, has ac­quired prop­erty or any oth­er right in rem in re­li­ance there­on, is pro­tec­ted in such ac­quis­i­tion.

2 This rule does not ap­ply to bound­ar­ies of land in areas des­ig­nated by the can­tons as be­ing in per­man­ent danger of ground dis­place­ment.705

705In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 4 Oct. 1991 on the Par­tial Re­vi­sion of the Civil Code (Im­mov­able Prop­erty Law) and of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions (Pur­chase of Land), in force since 1 Jan. 1994 (AS 1993 1404; BBl 1988 III 953).

Art. 974  

3. In re­la­tion to third parties act­ing in bad faith

 

1 If the entry of a right in rem is un­war­ran­ted, a third party who is or ought to be aware there­of may not rely on the entry.

2 An entry is un­war­ran­ted if it is without leg­al basis or was made on the basis of an in­val­id trans­ac­tion.

3 A per­son whose rights in rem are in­fringed by such an entry may in­voke its de­fect­ive­ness dir­ectly against the third party act­ing in bad faith.

Art. 974a706  

E. De­le­tion and amend­ment of entries

I. Re­vi­sion

1. On the di­vi­sionof prop­erty

 

1 If a prop­erty is di­vided, the ease­ments, pri­or­ity no­tices and notes for each di­vided part must be re­vised.

2 The own­er of the prop­erty be­ing di­vided must ad­vise the land re­gister of­fice which entries to de­lete and which to trans­fer to the di­vided parts. If this is not done, the ap­plic­a­tion must be re­jec­ted.

3 Where an entry ac­cord­ing to the sup­port­ing doc­u­ments or the cir­cum­stances does not re­late to a di­vided part, it must be de­leted. The pro­ced­ure is gov­erned by the reg­u­la­tions on the de­le­tion of an entry.

706 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 974b707  

2. In the case of the con­sol­id­a­tion of par­cels of land

 

1 Two or more par­cels of land be­long­ing to one own­er may only be con­sol­id­ated if no mort­gage rights or real bur­dens have to be trans­ferred from the in­di­vidu­al par­cels to the con­sol­id­ated prop­erty or if the cred­it­or con­sents.

2 If ease­ments, pri­or­ity no­tices or notes en­cum­ber­ing the prop­erty must be re­cor­ded, they may be con­sol­id­ated only if the be­ne­fi­ciar­ies con­sent or if their rights are not pre­ju­diced due to the nature of the en­cum­brance.

3 If ease­ments, pri­or­ity no­tices or notes be­ne­fit­ing the prop­erty real es­tate must be re­cor­ded, they may only be con­sol­id­ated if the own­er of the ser­vi­ent prop­erty con­sents or if the en­cum­brance is not in­creased by con­sol­id­a­tion.

4 The pro­vi­sions on re­vi­sion on the di­vi­sion of prop­erty ap­ply by ana­logy.

707 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 975  

II. Un­war­ran­ted entries

 

1 Where an entry of a right in rem is un­war­ran­ted or a cor­rect entry has been de­leted or mod­i­fied in an un­war­ran­ted man­ner, any per­son whose rights in rem are thereby in­fringed may bring an ac­tion for de­le­tion or amend­ment of the entry.

2 Rights in rem ac­quired in good faith by third parties re­ly­ing on the entry and claims for dam­ages are re­served.

Art. 976709  

III. Sim­pli­fied de­le­tion

1. Clearly in­sig­ni­fic­ant entries

 

The land re­gister may de­lete an entry ex of­fi­cio if the entry:

1.
is lim­ited in time and has lost its leg­al sig­ni­fic­ance as it has ex­pired;
2.
relates to a non-as­signable or non-her­it­able right of a de­ceased per­son;
3.
can­not af­fect the prop­erty due to the loc­al situ­ation;
4.
relates to a prop­erty that no longer ex­ists.

709 Amended by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 976a710  

2. Oth­er entries

a. In gen­er­al

 

1 If an entry in all prob­ab­il­ity has no leg­al im­port­ance, in par­tic­u­lar be­cause ac­cord­ing to the sup­port­ing doc­u­ments or the cir­cum­stances it does not re­late to the prop­erty, then any per­son en­cumbered may re­quest its de­le­tion.

2 If the land re­gister of­fice re­gards the re­quest as jus­ti­fied, it shall in­form the be­ne­fi­ciary that it will de­lete the entry un­less he or she files an ob­jec­tion with land re­gister of­fice with­in 30 days.

710 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 976b711  

b. On ob­jec­tion

 

1 If the be­ne­fi­ciary files an ob­jec­tion, the land re­gister of­fice shall re­as­sess the re­quest for de­le­tion at the re­quest of the en­cumbered per­son.

2 If the land re­gister of­fice con­cludes that the re­quest should be gran­ted des­pite the ob­jec­tion, it shall no­ti­fy the be­ne­fi­ciary that it will de­lete the entry from the main re­gister un­less the be­ne­fi­ciary brings a court ac­tion to de­clare that the entry is of leg­al sig­ni­fic­ance.

711 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 976c712  

3. Pub­lic re­vi­sion pro­ced­ure

 

1 If con­di­tions have changed in fact or law in a spe­cif­ic area and as a res­ult a large num­ber of ease­ments, pri­or­ity no­tices or notes have com­pletely or largely lapsed or if the situ­ation can no longer be de­term­ined, the au­thor­ity des­ig­nated by the can­ton may or­der a re­vi­sion in this area.

2 This or­der must be noted in the cor­res­pond­ing land re­gister fo­li­os.

3 The can­tons shall reg­u­late the de­tails and the pro­ced­ure. They may fur­ther sim­pli­fy the re­vi­sion pro­ced­ure or is­sue reg­u­la­tions that de­vi­ate from fed­er­al law.

712 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 977  

IV. Cor­rec­tions

 

1 Un­less the in­ter­ested parties con­sent in writ­ing, the land re­gis­trar may cor­rect the re­gister only in ac­cord­ance with a court or­der.

2 In­stead of cor­rect­ing an un­war­ran­ted entry, the re­gis­trar may de­lete it and make a new one.

3 The land re­gis­trar may cor­rect ty­po­graph­ic­al er­rors of his or her own ac­cord in ac­cord­ance with reg­u­la­tions to be is­sued by the Fed­er­al Coun­cil.

Final Title: Commencement and Implementing Provisions 714

714 Amended by No I 4 of the FA of 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1).

Chapter One: Application of Former and New Law 715

715 Amended by No I 4 of the FA of 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1).

Art. 1  

A. Gen­er­al pro­vi­sions

I. Gen­er­al rule of non-ret­ro­act­ive ef­fect

 

1 When this Code comes in­to force, the leg­al ef­fects of cir­cum­stances which oc­curred pre­vi­ously re­main sub­ject to those pro­vi­sions of fed­er­al or can­ton­al law which were ap­plic­able when the cir­cum­stances oc­curred.

2 Ac­cord­ingly, the leg­ally bind­ing nature and con­sequences of acts which took place be­fore the com­mence­ment here­of re­main sub­ject to the law which was ap­plic­able at the time.

3 However, cir­cum­stances oc­cur­ring after the com­mence­ment here­of are sub­ject to the new law, un­less this Code provides oth­er­wise.

Art. 2  

II. Ret­ro­act­ive ef­fect

1. Pub­lic policy and good mor­als

 

1 The pro­vi­sions of this Code spe­cific­ally en­acted in the in­terests of pub­lic policy and good mor­als ap­ply when it comes in­to force to all cir­cum­stances, un­less this Code provides oth­er­wise.

2 Ac­cord­ingly, pro­vi­sions of the pre­vi­ous law which un­der the new law are deemed to con­tra­vene pub­lic policy and good mor­als cease to ap­ply when the new law comes in­to force.

Art. 3  

2. Re­la­tion­ships defined by law

 

When this Code comes in­to force, leg­al re­la­tion­ships whose con­tent is defined by law ir­re­spect­ive of the will of the parties con­cerned are sub­ject to the new law, even if pre­vi­ously such re­la­tion­ships were val­id.

Art. 4  

3. Non-ves­ted rights

 

The leg­al ef­fects of cir­cum­stances which oc­curred while the pre­vi­ous law was still in force and which en­joy no pro­tec­tion un­der the new law are sub­ject to the lat­ter once it has come in­to force.

Art. 5  

B. Law of per­sons

I. Ca­pa­city to act

 

1 Ca­pa­city to act shall be as­sessed in all cases in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions of this Code.

2 However, any per­son who has the ca­pa­city to act un­der the pre­vi­ous law when this Code comes in­to force but who would not have the ca­pa­city to act un­der the new law will also be re­cog­nised as hav­ing the ca­pa­city to act when this Code comes in­to force.

Art. 6  

II. Pre­sumed death

 

1 The de­clar­a­tion of pre­sumed death be­comes sub­ject to the new law when this Code comes in­to force.

2 When this Code comes in­to force, de­clar­a­tions of death or ab­sence un­der the pre­vi­ous law have the same ef­fects as a de­clar­a­tion of pre­sumed death un­der the new law, but the con­sequences that have oc­curred un­der the pre­vi­ous law pri­or to this Code com­ing in­to force, such as suc­ces­sion or dis­sol­u­tion of mar­riage, re­main val­id.

3 Pro­ceed­ings pending when the new law comes in­to force shall be re­star­ted in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions of this Code, tak­ing ac­count of the time that has elapsed, or, if re­ques­ted by the parties, con­cluded in ac­cord­ance with the pre­vi­ous pro­ced­ure, re­spect­ing the pre­vi­ous dead­lines.

Art. 6a716  

IIa. Cent­ral civil re­gister data­base

 

1 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil reg­u­lates the trans­ition from the former pro­ced­ure for keep­ing the civil re­gister to the elec­tron­ic civil re­gister.

2 The Con­fed­er­a­tion as­sumes the cap­it­al in­vest­ment costs up to an amount of 5 mil­lion francs.

716 In­ser­ted by No 1 of the FA of 5 Oct. 2001 (Elec­tron­ic civil re­gister), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2004 (AS 20042911; BBl 2001 1639).

Art. 6b718  

III. Leg­al en­tit­ies

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 As­so­ci­ations of per­sons and in­sti­tu­tions or found­a­tions that had ac­quired leg­al per­son­al­ity un­der the pre­vi­ous law, re­tain their per­son­al­ity un­der the new law even where they would not ac­quire leg­al per­son­al­ity un­der the new law.

2 Ex­ist­ing leg­al en­tit­ies that re­quire to be entered in the pub­lic re­gister in ac­cord­ance with this Code must re­gister with­in five years of the com­mence­ment of the new law even if no pro­vi­sion was made for re­gis­tra­tion un­der the pre­vi­ous law and are no longer re­cog­nised as leg­al en­tit­ies on ex­piry of this time lim­it.

2bis Re­li­gious found­a­tions and fam­ily found­a­tion that are not entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister when the Amend­ment of 12 Decem­ber 2014 (Art. 52 para. 2) comes in­to force con­tin­ue to be re­cog­nised as leg­al en­tit­ies. They must be entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister with­in five years of the Amend­ment com­ing in­to force. The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall take the spe­cial cir­cum­stances of re­li­gious found­a­tions in­to ac­count when de­term­in­ing the re­quire­ments for entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister.719

3 The status of the leg­al per­son­al­ity of all leg­al en­tit­ies is de­term­ined by the new law as soon as this Code comes in­to force.

718 Ori­gin­ally Art. 6a. Pre­vi­ously Art. 7.

719 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 12 Dec. 2014 on the Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the 2012 Re­vi­sion of the Re­com­mend­a­tions of the Fin­an­cial Ac­tion Task Force, in force since 1 Jan. 2016 (AS 20151389; BBl 2014605).

Art. 6bbis720  

1a. As­so­ci­ations that must be entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister

 

Ex­ist­ing as­so­ci­ations in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 61 para­graph 2 must meet the re­quire­ments spe­cified in Art­icles 61a and 69 para­graph 2 with­in 18 months of the Amend­ment of 19 March 2021 com­ing in­to force. Ex­ist­ing as­so­ci­ations in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 61 para­graph 2 num­ber 3 must also be entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister with­in this peri­od.

720 In­ser­ted by An­nex 1 No 1 of the FA of 19 March 2021, in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2021 656; 2022 551; BBl 2019 5451).

Art. 6c721  

2. Ac­count­ing and aud­it­ors

 

The pro­vi­sions of the Amend­ment of 16 Decem­ber 2005722 re­lat­ing to ac­count­ing and aud­it­ors ap­ply from first fin­an­cial year that be­gins on or after the com­mence­ment of this Code.

721 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pan­ies and modi­fic­a­tions to the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, co­oper­at­ives, the com­mer­cial re­gister and com­pany names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

722 AS 2007 4791; BBl 20023148, 20043969

Art. 6d723  

IV. Pro­tec­tion of the in­di­vidu­al against vi­ol­ence, threats or stalk­ing

 

The new law ap­plies to pro­ceed­ings that are already pending when the amend­ment of 14 Decem­ber 2018 comes in­to force.

723 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 14 Dec. 2018 on Im­prov­ing the Pro­tec­tion giv­en to Vic­tims of Vi­ol­ence, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2020 (AS 2019 2273; BBl 2017 7307).

Art. 7724  

C. Fam­ily law

I. Mar­riage

 

1 The new law ap­plies to mar­riage as soon as the Fed­er­al Act of 26 June 1998725 has come in­to force.

2 Mar­riages sub­ject to grounds for an­nul­ment un­der the pre­vi­ous law may, once the new law has come in­to force, only be an­nulled un­der the new law. However the peri­od that has lapsed be­fore this date will be taken in­to ac­count in de­term­in­ing time lim­its.

724 In­ser­ted by No I 4 of the FA of 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1).

725 AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1

Art. 7a726  

Ibis. Di­vorce

1. Prin­ciple

 

1 Di­vorce pro­ceed­ings are gov­erned by the new law as soon as the Fed­er­al Act of 26 June 1998727 has come in­to force.

2 Di­vorces that had taken full leg­al ef­fect un­der the pre­vi­ous law re­main val­id; the new pro­vi­sions on en­force­ment ap­ply to peri­od­ic main­ten­ance pay­ments or lump sum set­tle­ment that are fixed as an al­tern­at­ive to main­ten­ance or as a main­ten­ance con­tri­bu­tion.

3 Any amend­ment of the di­vorce de­cree is car­ried out in ac­cord­ance with the pre­vi­ous law with the ex­cep­tion of the pro­vi­sions on chil­dren and pro­ced­ur­al mat­ters.

726 In­ser­ted by No I 4 of the FA of 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1).

727 AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1

Art. 7b728  

2. Pending di­vorce pro­ceed­ings

 

1 The new law ap­plies to di­vorce pro­ceed­ings that are pending on the com­mence­ment of the Fed­er­al Act of 26 June 1998729 and which must be judged by a can­ton­al au­thor­ity.

2 New leg­al re­quests that are re­quired due to the change in the ap­plic­able law are per­mit­ted; un­con­tested parts of the judg­ment re­main bind­ing, un­less they are ma­ter­i­ally so closely con­nec­ted with the re­quests that re­main to be judged that it makes sense to re­as­sess the en­tire case

3 The Fed­er­al Su­preme Court de­cides in ac­cord­ance with the pre­vi­ous law in cases where the con­tested judg­ment was is­sued be­fore the com­mence­ment of the Fed­er­al Act of 26 June 1998; this also ap­plies if the case is re­ferred back to the can­ton­al au­thor­ity.

728 In­ser­ted by No I 4 of the FA of 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1).

729 AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1

Art. 7c730  

3. Peri­od of sep­ar­a­tion for pending di­vorce pro­ceed­ings

 

For di­vorce pro­ceed­ings that are pending on com­mence­ment of the Amend­ment of 19 Decem­ber 2003731 and must be judged by a can­ton­al au­thor­ity, the peri­od of sep­ar­a­tion un­der the new law ap­plies.

730 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 19 Dec. 2003 (Peri­od of Sep­ar­a­tion un­der Di­vorce Law), in force since 1 June 2004 (AS 2004 2161; BBl 2003 39275825).

731 AS 20042161

Art. 7d732  

4. Oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sion

 

1 The new law on oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sions on di­vorce ap­plies as soon as the amend­ment of 19 June 2015 comes in­to force.

2 The new law ap­plies to di­vorce cases pending be­fore a can­ton­al court at the time when the amend­ment of 19 June 2015 comes in­to force.

3 When the con­tested de­cision was made be­fore the amend­ment of 19 June 2015 came in­to force, the Fed­er­al Su­preme Court shall de­cide un­der pre­vi­ous law; this also ap­plies when a case is re­ferred back to the can­ton­al court.


732 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Equit­able Di­vi­sion of Pen­sions on Di­vorce), in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 2313; BBl 2013 4887).

Art. 7e733  

5. Con­ver­sion of ex­ist­ing pen­sions

 

1 If on di­vorce un­der the pre­vi­ous law the court, when de­cid­ing on the equit­able di­vi­sion of pen­sions, has awar­ded com­pens­a­tion to the en­titled spouse in the form of a pen­sion that ter­min­ates on the death of the li­able or the en­titled spouse, the en­titled spouse may, with­in one year of the amend­ment of 19 June 2015 com­ing in­to force, de­mand that he or she be gran­ted a life-long pen­sion in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 124a in­stead, should the li­able spouse draw an old-age pen­sion or an in­valid­ity pen­sion after the com­mence­ment of the stat­utory pen­sion age.

2 In the case of de­cisions made abroad, jur­is­dic­tion is de­term­ined by Art­icle 64 of the Fed­er­al Act of 18 Decem­ber 1987734 on In­ter­na­tion­al Private Law.

3 Any pen­sion pay­ments already made un­der pre­vi­ous law are con­sidered part of the pen­sion awar­ded.

733 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Equit­able Di­vi­sion of Pen­sions on Di­vorce), in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 2313; BBl 2013 4887).

734 SR 291

Art. 8735  

Iter. Ef­fects the mar­riage in gen­er­al

1. Prin­ciple

 

For the ef­fects of the mar­riage in gen­er­al, the new law ap­plies as soon as the Fed­er­al Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 1984 has come in­to force.

735 Amended by No I 4 of the FA of 26 June 1998, in force since 1 Jan. 2000 (AS 1999 1118; BBl 1996 I 1).

Art. 8a736  

2. Sur­name

 

A spouse who changed his or her name on mar­riage be­fore the amend­ment to this Code of 30 Septem­ber 2011 came in­to force may de­clare to the civil re­gis­trar at any time that he or she wishes to use his or her name be­fore mar­riage again.

736In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191). Amended by No I of the FA of 30 Sept. 2011 (Name and Cit­izen­ship), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2012 2569; BBl 200975737581).

Art. 8b737  

3. Cit­izen­ship

 

A Swiss wo­man who mar­ried un­der the pre­vi­ous law may with­in one year of the new law com­ing in­to force de­clare to the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity of her former can­ton of ori­gin that she wishes to re­tain the cit­izen­ship that she held as a single wo­man.

737In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 9739  

II. Mar­it­al prop­erty law ap­plic­able to mar­riages con­trac­ted be­fore 1 Janu­ary 1912

 

The leg­al ef­fects on mar­it­al prop­erty of mar­riages con­trac­ted be­fore 1 Janu­ary 1912 are gov­erned by the pro­vi­sions of the Civil Code on the ap­plic­a­tion of the pre­vi­ous and new law that came in­to force on that day.

739Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 9a741  

IIbis. Mar­it­al prop­erty law ap­plic­able to mar­riages con­trac­ted after 1 Janu­ary 1912

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 The new law ap­plies to mar­riages that ex­ist when the Fed­er­al Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 1984 comes in­to force, un­less oth­er­wise provided.

2 The leg­al ef­fects on mar­it­al prop­erty of mar­riages that were dis­solved be­fore the Fed­er­al Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 1984 came in­to force are gov­erned by the pre­vi­ous law.

741In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 9b742  

2. Change from a uni­on of prop­erty to par­ti­cip­a­tion in ac­quired prop­erty

a. Change to the bod­ies of as­sets

 

1 Spouses who have hitherto been sub­ject to a uni­on of prop­erty re­gime are now sub­ject to the reg­u­la­tions on par­ti­cip­a­tion in ac­quired prop­erty in re­la­tion to each oth­er and to third parties.

2 The as­sets of each spouse be­come his or her own prop­erty or ac­quis­i­tions in ac­cord­ance with the reg­u­la­tions on par­ti­cip­a­tion in ac­quired prop­erty; sep­ar­ate prop­erty in terms of a mar­it­al agree­ment be­comes per­son­al as­sets.

3 The wife re­claims the prop­erty she brought in­to the mar­riage that be­came her hus­band's prop­erty or makes a claim for com­pens­a­tion.

742In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 9c743  

b. Pref­er­en­tial right

 

In the event of the hus­band's bank­ruptcy and the dis­traint of his as­sets, the pre­vi­ous pro­vi­sions on the wife's right to com­pens­a­tion in re­spect of prop­erty that she has brought in­to the mar­riage and which is no longer avail­able con­tin­ue to ap­ply for ten years after the new law comes in­to force.

743In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 9d744  

c. Di­vi­sion of mar­it­al prop­erty un­der the new law

 

1 After the new law comes in­to force, the di­vi­sion of mar­it­al prop­erty between the spouses is gov­erned for the en­tire dur­a­tion of the pre­vi­ous and the new stat­utory mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime by the reg­u­la­tions on par­ti­cip­a­tion in ac­quired prop­erty, un­less the spouses have com­pleted the di­vi­sion of mar­it­al prop­erty in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions on uni­on of prop­erty at the time when the new law comes in­to force.

2 Be­fore the new law comes in­to force, either spouse may give writ­ten no­tice to the oth­er that the cur­rent mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime of uni­on of prop­erty must be dis­solved in ac­cord­ance with the pre­vi­ous law.

3 If the mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime is dis­solved be­cause an ac­tion filed be­fore the new law comes in­to force is up­held, the di­vi­sion of mar­it­al prop­erty is gov­erned by the pre­vi­ous law.

744In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 9e745  

3. Re­ten­tion of the uni­on of prop­erty re­gime

 

1 Spouses sub­ject to the stat­utory mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime of uni­on of prop­erty who have not changed this mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime by mar­it­al agree­ment may by one year at the latest after the new law comes in­to force elect to re­tain the uni­on of prop­erty re­gime by fil­ing a joint writ­ten de­clar­a­tion with the mar­it­al prop­erty re­gister of­fice at their dom­i­cile; the mar­it­al prop­erty re­gister of­fice shall main­tain a re­gister of such de­clar­a­tions that any­one may in­spect.

2 The mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime may only be cited in op­pos­i­tion to a third party if that third party is or should be aware of it.

3 The new reg­u­la­tions on the sep­ar­a­tion of prop­erty ap­ply in fu­ture to the spouses' sep­ar­ate prop­erty.

745In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 9f746  

4. Re­ten­tion of sep­ar­a­tion of prop­erty by op­er­a­tion of law or by court or­der

 

In the case of a sep­ar­a­tion of prop­erty es­tab­lished by op­er­a­tion of the law or by court or­der, the spouses are sub­ject to the new pro­vi­sions on the sep­ar­a­tion of prop­erty.

746In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 9g747  

4a. Mar­it­al prop­erty law ap­plic­able to same-sex mar­riages con­trac­ted abroad be­fore the full entry in­to force of the Amend­ment of 18 Decem­ber 2020

 

1 In the case of same-sex mar­ried couple who were mar­ried abroad be­fore the Amend­ment of 18 Decem­ber 2020 came in­to full leg­al force, the stat­utory mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime of par­ti­cip­a­tion in ac­quired prop­erty ap­plies ret­ro­spect­ively from the date of mar­riage, un­less the couple agrees oth­er­wise by mar­it­al agree­ment or prop­erty agree­ment.

2 Be­fore this Amend­ment comes in­to force in full, either spouse may give writ­ten no­tice to the oth­er that the cur­rent mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime will be main­tained in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 18 of the Same-Sex Part­ner­ship Act of 18 June 2004748 (SSPA) un­til the date of full entry in­to force.

3 The cur­rent mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 18 SSPA shall also be re­tained if an ac­tion seek­ing to dis­solve the mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime un­der Swiss law is pending when this Amend­ment comes in­to full leg­al force.

4 The related ordinances shall provide that married couples who so wish shall be mentioned as husband and wife or as father and mother in relation to their children on documents, deeds and forms.

747 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 18 Dec. 2020 (Mar­riage for All), in force since 1 Jan. 2022, paras 1, 3and 4 in force since 1 Ju­ly 2022 (AS 2021 747; BBl 2019 8595; 2020 1273).

748 SR 211.231

Art. 10749  

5. Mar­it­al agree­ment

a. In gen­er­al

 

1 If the spouses have entered in­to a mar­it­al agree­ment in ac­cord­ance with the Civil Code, this mar­it­al agree­ment con­tin­ues to ap­ply and their en­tire mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime con­tin­ues to be gov­erned by the pre­vi­ous law, sub­ject to the re­ser­va­tion of the pro­vi­sions of this Title on sep­ar­ate prop­erty, leg­al ef­fect on third parties and the con­trac­tu­al sep­ar­a­tion of prop­erty.

2 The new reg­u­la­tions on the sep­ar­a­tion of prop­erty ap­ply in fu­ture to the spouses' sep­ar­ate prop­erty.

3 Agree­ments on par­ti­cip­a­tion in a sur­plus or de­fi­cit in the case of a uni­on of prop­erty re­gime must not ad­versely af­fect the right to claim the stat­utory en­ti­tle­ments of chil­dren who are not the com­mon is­sue of the spouses or those of the is­sue of such chil­dren.

749Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 10a750  

b. Leg­al ef­fect in re­la­tion to third parties

 

1 The mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime may only be cited in op­pos­i­tion to a third party if that third party is or should be aware of it.

2 If the mar­it­al prop­erty agree­ment has no leg­al ef­fect in re­la­tion to third parties, the pro­vi­sions on par­ti­cip­a­tion in ac­quired prop­erty ap­ply from now on in re­la­tion to such parties.

750In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 10b751  

c. Ap­plic­a­tion of the new law

 

1 Spouses sub­ject to a uni­on of prop­erty re­gime who have changed this mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime by mar­it­al agree­ment may by one year at the latest after the new law comes in­to force elect to make their leg­al rights sub­ject to the new stat­utory mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime of par­ti­cip­a­tion in ac­quired prop­erty by fil­ing of a joint writ­ten de­clar­a­tion with mar­it­al prop­erty re­gister of­fice at their dom­i­cile.

2 In this event, the con­trac­tu­al share of the sur­plus shall in fu­ture ap­ply to the total amount of the sur­plus of both spouses, un­less a mar­it­al prop­erty agree­ment provides oth­er­wise.

751In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 10c752  

d. Con­trac­tu­al sep­ar­a­tion of prop­erty ac­cord­ing to pre­vi­ous law

 

If the spouses agreed to a sep­ar­a­tion of prop­erty un­der the pre­vi­ous law, they are sub­ject in fu­ture to the new pro­vi­sions on the sep­ar­a­tion of prop­erty.

752In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 10d753  

e. Mar­it­al agree­ments con­cluded with a view to the new law com­ing in­to force

 

Mar­it­al agree­ments con­cluded be­fore the Fed­er­al Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 1984 comes in­to force but which are in­ten­ded to take ef­fect only un­der the new law do not re­quire the ap­prov­al of the child pro­tec­tion au­thor­ity.

753In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 10e754  

f. Re­gister of mar­it­al prop­erty

 

1 After the Fed­er­al Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 1984 comes in­to force, no fur­ther entries will be made in the re­gister of mar­it­al prop­erty.

2 The right to in­spect the re­gister con­tin­ues to ap­ply.

754In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 11755  

6. Re­pay­ment of debts in the case of sep­ar­a­tion of as­sets un­der the law of mar­it­al prop­erty

 

If a sep­ar­a­tion of as­sets un­der the law of mar­it­al prop­erty in con­nec­tion with the new law com­ing in­to force causes ser­i­ous dif­fi­culties for a spouse who is li­able to pay debts or the re­place prop­erty that is due, he or she may re­quest ad­di­tion­al time to pay; the debt must be se­cured if this is jus­ti­fied by the cir­cum­stances.

755Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 11a756  

7. Pro­tec­tion of cred­it­ors

 

If the mar­it­al prop­erty rights change when the Fed­er­al Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 1984 comes in­to force, the pro­vi­sions on the pro­tec­tion the cred­it­ors in the event of a change in the mar­it­al prop­erty re­gime gov­ern li­ab­il­ity.

756In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, in force since 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 12757  

III. The par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship in gen­er­al

 

1 As soon as this Code comes in­to force, the es­tab­lish­ment and ef­fects of the par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship are gov­erned by the new law; the sur­name and the cit­izen­ship ac­quired un­der pre­vi­ous law are re­tained.

2 Chil­dren who are sub­ject to par­ent­al au­thor­ity by op­er­a­tion of the new law but who are un­der guard­i­an­ship when the new law comes in­to force must be placed un­der par­ent­al au­thor­ity no later than one year after that date un­less the con­trary was ordered un­der the pro­vi­sions on the with­draw­al of par­ent­al of au­thor­ity.

3 A trans­fer or with­draw­al of par­ent­al au­thor­ity of­fi­cially ordered un­der the pre­vi­ous law re­mains ef­fect­ive after the new law comes in­to force.

4 When the Amend­ment of 21 June 2013 comes in­to force, if par­ent­al re­spons­ib­il­ity is as­signed to only one par­ent, the oth­er par­ent may with­in one year of this Amend­ment com­ing in­to force re­quest the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity to or­der joint par­ent­al re­spons­ib­il­ity. Art­icle 298b ap­plies mu­tatis mutandis.758

5 A par­ent whose par­ent­al re­spons­ib­il­ity is re­voked on di­vorce may file a re­quest with the com­pet­ent court only if the di­vorce was de­creed less than five years be­fore the Amend­ment of 21 June 2013 comes in­to force.759

757Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 25 June 1976, in force since 1 Jan. 1978 (AS 1977 237; BBl 1974 II 1).

758 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 21 June 2013 (Par­ent­al Re­spons­ib­il­ity), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2014 (AS 2014 357; BBl 2011 9077).

759 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 21 June 2013 (Par­ent­al Re­spons­ib­il­ity), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2014 (AS 2014 357; BBl 2011 9077).

Art. 12a760  

IIIbis. Ad­op­tion

1. Con­tinu­ation of the pre­vi­ous law

 

1 An ad­op­tion pro­nounced be­fore the new pro­vi­sions of the Fed­er­al Act of 30 June 1972 on the Amend­ment of the Swiss Civil Code come in­to force con­tin­ues to be gov­erned by the law that came in­to force on 1 Janu­ary 1912761; con­sents val­idly giv­en in ac­cord­ance with this law re­main ef­fect­ive in every case.

2 Per­sons who are not yet 20 years old when the Fed­er­al Act of 7 Oc­to­ber 1994 comes in­to force may still be ad­op­ted in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions on minor­ity after at­tain­ing ma­jor­ity provided the ap­plic­a­tion is filed with­in two years of the Fed­er­al Act com­ing in­to force and of their 20th birth­day.762

760In­ser­ted by No I 3 of the FA of 30 June 1972, in force since 1 April 1973 (AS 1972 2819; BBl 1971 I 1200).

761Art. 465 Civil Code in the ver­sion of 1 Jan. 1912: 1 An ad­opt­ive child and his or her is­sue have the same rights of suc­ces­sion in re­spect of the ad­opt­ive par­ents as the is­sue of their mar­riage. 2 Ad­opt­ive par­ents and their blood re­l­at­ives have no rights of suc­ces­sion in re­spect of an ad­opt­ive child.

762In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 7 Oct. 1994, in force since 1 Jan. 1996 (AS 1995 1126; BBl 1993 I 1169).

Art. 12b763  

2. Pending pro­ceed­ings

 

The new law ap­plies to ad­op­tion pro­ced­ures pending at the time the amend­ment of 17 June 2016 comes in­to force.

763In­ser­ted by No I 3 of the FA of 30 June 1972 (AS 1972 2819; BBl 1971 I 1200). Amended by No I of the FA of 17 June 2016 (Ad­op­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2018 (AS 2017 3699; BBl 2015 877).

Art. 12c764  

3. Ap­plic­a­tion of the new law

 

The pro­vi­sions of the amend­ment of 17 June 2016 on the con­fid­en­ti­al­ity of ad­op­tion in­form­a­tion, on in­form­a­tion about the bio­lo­gic­al par­ents and their dir­ect des­cend­ants and on the pos­sib­il­ity of ar­ran­ging con­tact between the bio­lo­gic­al par­ents and the child also ap­ply to ad­op­tions which are gran­ted pri­or to the amend­ment com­ing in­to force or which are pending at the time it comes in­to force.

764In­ser­ted by No I 3 of the FA of 30 June 1972 (AS 1972 2819; BBl 1971 I 1200). Amended by No I of the FA of 17 June 2016 (Ad­op­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2018 (AS 2017 3699; BBl 2015 877).

Art. 12cbis765  
 

765In­ser­ted by An­nex No 2 of the FA of 22 June 2001 on the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion on Ad­op­tion and on Meas­ures to Pro­tect Chil­dren in In­ter­na­tion­al Ad­op­tion Cases (AS 20023988; BBl 1999 5795). Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 17 June 2016 (Ad­op­tion), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2018 (AS 2017 3699; BBl 2015 877).

Art. 12d766  

IIIter.Con­test­ing a de­clar­a­tion of le­git­im­acy

 

The con­test­ing of a de­clar­a­tion of le­git­im­acy made un­der the pre­vi­ous law is gov­erned by ana­logy by the pro­vi­sions of the new laws on the con­test­ing of re­cog­ni­tion fol­low­ing the par­ents' mar­riage.

766In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 25 June 1976, in force since 1 Jan. 1978 (AS 1977 237; BBl 1974 II 1).

Art. 13767  

IV. Pa­tern­ity ac­tions

1. Pending ac­tions

 

1 Ac­tions pending when the new law comes in­to force are judged in ac­cord­ance with the new law.

2 The ef­fects un­til the new law comes in­to force are de­term­ined by the pre­vi­ous law.

767Amended by No I 1 of the FA of 25 June 1976, in force since 1 Jan. 1978 (AS 1977 237; BBl 1974 II 1).

Art. 13a768  

2. New ac­tions

 

1 If a pe­cu­ni­ary ob­lig­a­tion on the fath­er's part is es­tab­lished by court de­cision or by con­tract be­fore the new law comes in­to force, and if the child has not yet reached the age of ten when the new law comes in­to force, the child may with­in two years bring an ac­tion un­der the pro­vi­sions of the new law to have the par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship de­clared.

2 If the De­fend­ant proves that he or she is not the fath­er or is less likely to be the fath­er than an­oth­er per­son, the right to claim fu­ture main­ten­ance lapses.

768In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 25 June 1976, in force since 1 Jan. 1978 (AS 1977 237; BBl 1974 II 1).

Art. 13b769  

IVbis. Time lim­it for de­clar­ing or chal­len­ging the par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship

 

Any per­son who at­tains ma­jor­ity due to the Fed­er­al Act of 7 Oc­to­ber 1994 com­ing in­to force may in any case file an ac­tion with­in one year to de­clare or chal­lenge the par­ent-child re­la­tion­ship.

769In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 7 Oct. 1994, in force since 1 Jan. 1996 (AS 1995 1126; BBl 1993 I 1169).

Art. 13c770  

IVter. Main­ten­ance con­tri­bu­tions

1. Ex­ist­ing main­ten­ance titles

2. Pending pro­ceed­ings

 

The child may ap­ply for the re­vi­sion of any main­ten­ance pay­ments set in an ap­proved main­ten­ance agree­ment or in a de­cision be­fore the amend­ment of 20 March 2015 came in­to force. If they were set at the same time as main­ten­ance pay­ments to one of the par­ents, pay­ments shall only be re­vised if there has been a sub­stan­tial change in cir­cum­stances.

Art. 13cbis 771

1 The new le­gis­la­tion ap­plies to pro­ceed­ings that are pending at the time of the amend­ment of 20 March 2015 com­ing in­to force.

2 When the con­tested de­cision was made be­fore the amend­ment of 20 March 2015 came in­to force, the Fed­er­al Su­preme Court shall de­cide un­der the pre­vi­ous law; this also ap­plies when a case is re­ferred back to the can­ton­al court.

770In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 7 Oct. 1994 (AS 1995 1126; BBl 1993 I 1169). Amended by No I of the FA of 20 March 2015 (Child Main­ten­ance), in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2015 4299; BBl 2014 529).

771 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 20 March 2015 (Child Main­ten­ance), in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2015 4299; BBl 2014 529).

Art. 13d772  

IVquater. Name of the child

 

1 If after the amend­ment to this Code of 30 Septem­ber 2011 comes in­to force the par­ents on the basis of a de­clar­a­tion un­der Art­icle 8a of this Title no longer have the same sur­name, they may de­clare with­in one year of the new law com­ing in­to force that their chil­dren will take the sur­name be­fore mar­riage of the par­ent who made the de­clar­a­tion.

2 If the par­ent­al re­spons­ib­il­ity of a child of par­ents who are not mar­ried to each oth­er is trans­ferred to both par­ents or the fath­er alone be­fore the amend­ment to this Code of 30 Septem­ber 2011 comes in­to force, the de­clar­a­tion provided for in Art­icle 270a para­graphs 2 and 3 may be made with­in one year of the new law com­ing in­to force.

3 In ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 270b, this shall be sub­ject to the child's con­sent.

772In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 30 Sept. 2011 (Name and Cit­izen­ship), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2012 2569; BBl 200975737581).

Art. 14773  

V. Adult pro­tec­tion

1. Ex­ist­ing meas­ures

 

1 The new law gov­erns adult pro­tec­tion as soon as the Amend­ment of 19 Decem­ber 2008774 comes in­to force.

2 Per­sons who have been made wards of court un­der the pre­vi­ous law shall be made sub­ject to a gen­er­al deputy­ship un­der the new law. The adult pro­tec­tion au­thor­ity shall ad­apt to the new law as soon as pos­sible. Un­less the au­thor­ity has de­cided oth­er­wise in the case of ex­ten­ded par­ent­al re­spons­ib­il­ity, par­ents are ex­empt from the ob­lig­a­tion to pre­pare an in­vent­ory, re­port and file ac­counts reg­u­larly and to ob­tain con­sent for cer­tain trans­ac­tions.

3 Oth­er meas­ures ordered un­der the pre­vi­ous law cease to ap­ply three years after the Amend­ment of 19 Decem­ber 2008 comes in­to force un­less the adult pro­tec­tion au­thor­ity trans­forms them in­to a meas­ure un­der the new law.

4 Where a doc­tor based on Art­icle 397b para­graph 2 in its ver­sion of 1 Janu­ary 1981775 ordered the care-re­lated de­ten­tion of a men­tally ill per­son, this meas­ure shall con­tin­ue to ap­ply. The rel­ev­ant in­sti­tu­tion shall no­ti­fy the adult pro­tec­tion au­thor­ity six months at the latest after the new law comes in­to force wheth­er it re­garded the re­quire­ments for hos­pit­al­isa­tion to be met. The adult pro­tec­tion au­thor­ity shall carry out the re­quired en­quir­ies in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions on reg­u­lar re­view and if ap­plic­able con­firm the hos­pit­al­isa­tion de­cision.

773 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

774 AS 2011 725

775 AS 1980 31

Art. 14a776  

2. Pending pro­ceed­ings

 

1 Pending pro­ceed­ings shall be con­tin­ued by the new com­pet­ent au­thor­ity after the Amend­ment of 19 Decem­ber 2008777 comes in­to force.

2 The new pro­ced­ur­al law ap­plies.

3 The au­thor­ity shall de­cide wheth­er and to what ex­tent the pre­vi­ous pro­ceed­ings re­quire to be amended.

776In­ser­ted by No II of the FA of 6 Oct. 1978 (AS 1980 31; BBl 1977 III 1). Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

777 AS 2011 725

Art. 15  

D. Suc­ces­sion law

I. Heirs and suc­ces­sion

 

1 The suc­ces­sion rights and the re­lated and in­sep­ar­able ef­fects on mar­it­al prop­erty un­der can­ton­al law of the death of a fath­er, a moth­er or a spouse are de­term­ined, provided the de­ceased dies be­fore this Code comes in­to force, by the pre­vi­ous law.

2 The fore­go­ing ap­plies both to heirs and to suc­ces­sion.

Art. 16  

II. Test­a­ment­ary dis­pos­i­tions

 

1 The mak­ing or re­voc­a­tion of a test­a­ment­ary dis­pos­i­tion car­ried out be­fore this Code comes in­to force, if done by a per­son sub­sequently de­ceased who had test­a­ment­ary ca­pa­city un­der the law that ap­plied at the time, may not be con­tested on the grounds that the de­ceased died fol­low­ing the com­mence­ment of the new law and would not have had test­a­ment­ary ca­pa­city un­der its pro­vi­sions.

2 A test­a­ment­ary dis­pos­i­tion may not be con­tested due to a form­al de­fect if it com­plies with the pro­vi­sions on form that ap­plied when it was made or at the time of death.

3 The con­test­ing of a dis­pos­i­tion on the grounds that the test­at­or ex­ceeded his or her test­a­ment­ary free­dom or due to the nature of the dis­pos­i­tion is gov­erned in the case of all test­a­ment­ary dis­pos­i­tions by the pro­vi­sions of the new law if the de­ceased died after the com­mence­ment of this Code.

Art. 17  

E. Prop­erty law

I. Rights in rem in gen­er­al

 

1 Rights in rem ex­ist­ing when this Code comes in­to force con­tin­ue to be re­cog­nised un­der the new law sub­ject to the re­ser­va­tion of the reg­u­la­tions on the land re­gister.

2 However, the scope of rights of own­er­ship and re­stric­ted rights in rem is sub­ject to the new law after this Code comes in­to force un­less the Code provides oth­er­wise.

3 Rights that can no longer be cre­ated un­der the new law re­main sub­ject to the pre­vi­ous law.

Art. 18  

II. Right to entry in the land re­gister

 

1 Rights to cre­ate a right in rem that were es­tab­lished be­fore this Code comes in­to force are re­cog­nised as val­id provided they cor­res­pond to the form re­quired by the former or the new law.

2 The or­din­ance on main­tain­ing the land re­gister de­term­ines what doc­u­ment­ary proof is re­quired for the re­gis­tra­tion of such rights.

3 The scope of a right in rem es­tab­lished be­fore this Code comes in­to force by a leg­al trans­ac­tion re­mains re­cog­nised un­der the new law, provided it is com­pat­ible with the same.

Art. 19  

III. Ad­verse pos­ses­sion

 

1 Ad­verse pos­ses­sion is gov­erned by the new law after this Code comes in­to force.

2 If however ad­verse pos­ses­sion re­cog­nised un­der the new law has be­gun un­der the pre­vi­ous law, the time that elapsed be­fore this Code comes in­to force is taken in­to ac­count in the cal­cu­lat­ing the peri­od of ad­verse pos­ses­sion.

Art. 20778  

IV. Spe­cial rights of own­er­ship

1. Trees on an­oth­er per­son's land

 

1 Ex­ist­ing rights of own­er­ship in re­la­tion to trees on an­oth­er per­son's land con­tin­ue to be re­cog­nised un­der can­ton­al law.

2 The can­tons shall have the power to lim­it or re­voke these con­di­tions.

778Amended by No IV of the FA of 19 Dec. 1963, in force since 1 Jan. 1965 (AS 1964 993; BBl 1962 II 1461).

Art. 20bis779  

2. Con­domin­i­um

a. Ori­gin­al

 

Con­domin­i­um gov­erned by the former can­ton­al law is sub­ject to the new pro­vi­sions of this Code even if the storeys or parts of storeys are not di­vided in­to self-con­tained dwell­ings or busi­ness units.

779In­ser­ted by No IV of the FA of 19 Dec. 1963, in force since 1 Jan. 1965 (AS 1964 993; BBl 1962 II 1461).

Art. 20ter780  

b. Con­ver­ted

 

1 The can­tons may also make con­domin­i­um re­cor­ded in the land re­gister in forms that ac­cord with the law that came in­to force on 1 Janu­ary 1912 sub­ject to the new reg­u­la­tions on con­domin­i­um.

2 The new law be­comes ef­fect­ive when the cor­res­pond­ing amend­ment is made to the entries in the land re­gister.

780In­ser­ted by No IV of the FA of 19 Dec. 1963, in force since 1 Jan. 1965 (AS 1964 993; BBl 1962 II 1461).

Art. 20quater781  

c. Cor­rec­tion of the land re­gisters

 

In or­der to make the con­ver­ted con­domin­i­um sub­ject to the new reg­u­la­tions and to re­gister ex­ist­ing con­domin­i­um, the can­tons may or­der the cor­rec­tion of the land re­gisters and is­sue spe­cial pro­ced­ur­al reg­u­la­tions for this pur­pose.

781In­ser­ted by No IV of the FA of 19 Dec. 1963, in force since 1 Jan. 1965 (AS 1964 993; BBl 1962 II 1461).

Art. 21  

V. Ease­ments

 

1The ease­ments cre­ated be­fore this Code comes in­to force re­main val­id fol­low­ing the in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister even if not re­gistered, but un­til re­gistered may not be en­forced against third parties act­ing in good faith.

2 Ob­lig­a­tions an­cil­lary to ease­ments that were es­tab­lished be­fore the amend­ment of 11 Decem­ber 2009782 came in­to force and which are based solely on land re­gister sup­port­ing doc­u­ments may con­tin­ue to be cited in op­pos­i­tion to third parties who rely on the land re­gister in good faith.783

782 AS 2011 4637

783 In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 22  

VI. Mort­gage rights

1. Re­cog­ni­tion of the ex­ist­ing doc­u­ment of title

 

1 Doc­u­ments of title ex­ist­ing when this Code comes in­to force re­main in force without hav­ing to be ad­ap­ted to the new law.

2 The can­tons have the right to re­quire new ver­sions of ex­ist­ing doc­u­ments of title to be drawn up on the basis of the new law with­in spe­cif­ic time lim­its.

Art. 23  

2. Cre­ation of li­ens

 

1 After this Code comes in­to force, new mort­gage rights may only be cre­ated in the forms re­cog­nised herein.

2Un­til the in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister, the pre­vi­ous can­ton­al leg­al forms for their cre­ation re­main val­id.

Art. 24  

3. Re­pay­ment of se­cur­it­ies

 

1 The re­pay­ment and modi­fic­a­tion the title, re­lease from li­ab­il­ity un­der a li­en and such­like are sub­ject to the new pro­vi­sions fol­low­ing the com­mence­ment of the new law.

2 However, un­til the in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister, the forms are gov­erned by can­ton­al law.

Art. 25  

4. Ex­tent of li­ab­il­ity un­der the li­en

 

1 In the case of all mort­gage rights, the ex­tent of li­ab­il­ity un­der the li­en is de­term­ined by the new law.

2 However, if by vir­tue of a spe­cial agree­ment the cred­it­or has val­idly re­ceived cer­tain ob­jects with the prop­erty pledged, the li­en con­tin­ues to ap­ply to these ob­jects even if they could not be pledged un­der the new law.

Art. 26  

5. Rights and ob­lig­a­tions from the mort­gage

a. In gen­er­al

 

1 The rights and ob­lig­a­tions of the cred­it­or and of the debt­or in re­la­tion to the con­trac­tu­al ef­fect of li­ens ex­ist­ing when this Code comes in­to force are gov­erned by the pre­vi­ous law.

2 In re­la­tion to ef­fects that arise by op­er­a­tion of the law which can­not be mod­i­fied con­trac­tu­ally, the new law also ap­plies to ex­ist­ing li­ens.

3 If the li­en ap­plies to two or more par­cels of land, li­ab­il­ity un­der the li­en con­tin­ues to be gov­erned by the pre­vi­ous law.

Art. 27  

b. Rights to se­cur­ity

 

The rights of the li­en cred­it­or dur­ing the ex­ist­ing leg­al re­la­tion­ship, such as rights to se­cur­ity, and the rights of the debt­or are gov­erned by the new law in re­la­tion to all li­ens from the time at which this Code comes in­to force.

Art. 28  

c. Ter­min­a­tion, trans­fer

 

For li­ens ex­ist­ing when this Code comes in­to force, the ter­min­a­tion of the se­cured debts and the trans­fer the doc­u­ment of title are gov­erned by the pre­vi­ous law, sub­ject to the re­ser­va­tion of the man­dat­ory pro­vi­sions of the new law.

Art. 29  

6. Rank­ing

 

1 Un­til the in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister, the rank­ing of li­ens is gov­erned by the pre­vi­ous law.

2 Fol­low­ing the in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister, the rank­ing of cred­it­ors is gov­erned by the land re­gister law con­tained in this Code.

Art. 30  

7. Rank­ing po­s­i­tions

 

1 In re­la­tion to a fixed rank­ing po­s­i­tion or the right of a cred­it­or to claim a va­cant po­s­i­tion or an ad­vance­ment in rank­ing, the new law ap­plies on the in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister and in every case from five years after this Code comes in­to force, sub­ject to the re­ser­va­tion of cred­it­ors' ex­ist­ing spe­cial claims.

2 The can­tons may en­act fur­ther trans­ition­al pro­vi­sions.784

784Amended by No II 21 of the FA of 15 Dec. 1989 on the Ap­prov­al of Can­ton­al Le­gis­la­tion by the Con­fed­er­a­tion, in force since 1 Feb. 1991 (AS 1991 362; BBl 1988 II 1333).

Art. 31and32785  

8. ...

 

785 Re­pealed by No I 2 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 33  

9. Equal status of pre­vi­ous forms of li­en with those un­der the new law

 

1 The can­ton­al im­ple­ment­ing le­gis­la­tion may stip­u­late that in gen­er­al or in a spe­cif­ic leg­al re­la­tion­ship a form of mort­gage un­der the pre­vi­ous law shall be re­garded as equi­val­ent to a form of mort­gage un­der the new law.

2 If this oc­curs, the pro­vi­sions of this Code also ap­ply to such can­ton­al li­ens from the date on which the Code comes in­to force.

3 ...786

786Re­pealed by No II 21 of the FA of 15 Dec. 1989 on the Ap­prov­al of Can­ton­al Le­gis­la­tion by the Con­fed­er­a­tion (AS 1991 362; BBl 1988 II 1333).

Art. 33a787  

10. Con­tin­ued ap­plic­a­tion of pre­vi­ous law to ex­ist­ing forms of li­en

 

1 Land charge cer­ti­fic­ates and mort­gage cer­ti­fic­ates is­sued in series re­main re­cor­ded in the land re­gister.

2 They re­main gov­erned by the pro­vi­sions of the pre­vi­ous law.

3 Can­ton­al law may provide for the con­ver­sion of land charge cer­ti­fic­ates cre­ated un­der fed­er­al law or earli­er law in­to forms of li­en un­der the cur­rent law. Con­ver­sion may also in­volve the in­tro­duc­tion of per­son­al li­ab­il­ity for the own­er of the mort­gaged prop­erty for minor sums.

787 In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 33b788  

11. Con­ver­sion the form of the mort­gage cer­ti­fic­ate

 

The landown­er and the mort­gage cer­ti­fic­ate cred­it­ors may jointly re­quest in writ­ing that a mort­gage cer­ti­fic­ate on pa­per re­cor­ded be­fore the amend­ment of 11 Decem­ber 2009789 comes in­to force be con­ver­ted in­to a re­gister mort­gage cer­ti­fic­ate.

788 In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

789 AS 2011 4637

Art. 34  

VII. Charges on chat­tels

1. Pro­vi­sions on form

 

1 From the date on which the Code comes in­to force, charges on chat­tels may only be cre­ated in the forms provided for herein.

2 Where a charge on chat­tels has been cre­ated in an­oth­er form be­fore this time, it is ex­tin­guished after a peri­od of six months which be­gins to run if the debt is due for pay­ment from the date on which the new law comes in­to force and in oth­er cases from the date on which it be­comes due for pay­ment or when ter­min­a­tion is per­mit­ted.

Art. 35  

2. Ef­fect

 

1 The ef­fects of the charge on chat­tels, the rights and ob­lig­a­tions of the pledgee, of the pledger and of the pledge debt­or are gov­erned from the date on which this Code comes in­to force by the new law, even if the charge was cre­ated be­fore that date.

2 An agree­ment stip­u­lat­ing that the pledged chat­tel will be­come the prop­erty of the pledgee in the event of de­fault on the part of the debt­or that is con­cluded be­fore this Code comes in­to force ceases to be val­id from that date.

Art. 36  

VIII. Spe­cial li­en

 

1 A spe­cial li­en un­der this Code also ex­tends to ob­jects that were sub­ject to the power of dis­pos­al of the cred­it­or be­fore this Code comes in­to force.

2 It may also be ex­er­cised by the cred­it­ors in re­spect of claims that ori­gin­ated be­fore this date.

3 The ef­fect of spe­cial li­ens ori­gin­at­ing at an earli­er date is sub­ject to the pro­vi­sions of this Code.

Art. 37  

IX. Pos­ses­sion

 

When this Code comes in­to force, pos­ses­sion be­comes sub­ject to the new law.

Art. 38  

X. Land re­gister

1. Es­tab­lish­ment of the land re­gister

 

1 After con­sult­ing the can­tons, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall draw up a plan for the in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister. It may del­eg­ate this re­spons­ib­il­ity to the com­pet­ent de­part­ment or of­fice.790

2 ...791

790 Amended by An­nex No II of the FA of 5 Oct. 2007 on Geoin­form­a­tion, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2008 (AS 20082793; BBl 20067817).

791 Re­pealed by An­nex No II of the FA of 5 Oct. 2007 on Geoin­form­a­tion, with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2008 (AS 20082793; BBl 20067817).

Art. 39792  

2. Of­fi­cial ca­das­tral sur­vey

a. ...

 

792 Re­pealed by An­nex No II of the FA of 5 Oct. 2007 on Geoin­form­a­tion, with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2008 (AS 20082793; BBl 20067817)

Art. 40  

b. Re­la­tion to the land re­gister

 

1 As a gen­er­al rule, the sur­vey­ing should pre­cede the es­tab­lish­ment of the land re­gister.

2 With con­sent of the Con­fed­er­a­tion, however, the land re­gister may be es­tab­lished be­fore­hand if ad­equate de­scrip­tions of the prop­er­ties are avail­able.

Art. 41  

c. Time sched­ule

 

1 ...793

2 The sur­vey­ing and the in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister may be car­ried out suc­cess­ively for the in­di­vidu­al dis­tricts of a can­ton.

793 Re­pealed by An­nex No II of the FA of 5 Oc­to­ber 2007 on Geoin­form­a­tion, with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2008 (AS 20082793; BBl 20067817).

Art. 42794  
 

794 Re­pealed by An­nex No II of the FA of 5 Oc­to­ber 2007 on Geoin­form­a­tion, with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2008 (AS 20082793; BBl 20067817).

Art. 43  

3. Re­gis­tra­tion of rights in rem

a. Pro­ced­ure

 

1 On the in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister, rights in rem that already ex­ist shall be re­cor­ded in the re­gister.

2 For this pur­pose, an an­nounce­ment must be made to the pub­lic re­quest­ing them to give no­tice of and re­gister these rights.

3 Rights in rem re­gistered un­der the pre­vi­ous law in pub­lic books shall, provided they may be cre­ated un­der the new law, be entered ex of­fi­cio in the land re­gister.

Art. 44  

b. Con­sequences of non-re­gis­tra­tion

 

1 Rights in rem un­der the pre­vi­ous law that are not re­gistered re­main val­id but may not be cited in op­pos­i­tion to third parties who rely in good faith on the land re­gister.

2 The Con­fed­er­a­tion or the can­tons may however en­act le­gis­la­tion to have all rights in rem that are not re­cor­ded in the land re­gister de­clared in­val­id after a spe­cif­ic date sub­ject to pri­or no­tice.

3 Un­re­gistered pub­lic law real bur­dens and stat­utory li­ens un­der can­ton­al law cre­ated be­fore the amend­ment of 11 Decem­ber 2009795 comes in­to force may for a peri­od of ten years from the date on which the amend­ment comes in­to force be cited in op­pos­i­tion to third parties who rely on the land re­gister in good faith.796

795 AS 2011 4637

796 In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

Art. 45797  

4. Ab­ol­ished rights

 

1 Rights in rem that may no longer be es­tab­lished un­der the land re­gister law such as the own­er­ship of trees on an­oth­er per­son's land, li­ens on usu­fructs and such­like are not re­cor­ded in the land re­gister but must be noted in an ap­pro­pri­ate man­ner.

2 If such rights have lapsed for whatever reas­on, they may not be re-es­tab­lished.

797Amended by No IV of the FA of 19 Dec. 1963, in force since 1 Jan. 1965 (AS 1964 993; BBl 1962 II 1461).

Art. 46  

5. Post­pone­ment in the in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister

 

1 The in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions of this Code may be post­poned by the can­tons with the au­thor­isa­tion of the Fed­er­al Coun­cil provided the can­ton­al pro­vi­sions on forms of no­tice, with or without amend­ments ap­pear to be suf­fi­cient to guar­an­tee the ef­fects that the new law re­quires of the land re­gister.

2 The forms of no­tice un­der can­ton­al law that are in­ten­ded to guar­an­tee the ef­fects re­quired by the new law must be pre­cisely spe­cified.

Art. 47  

6. In­tro­duc­tion of the prop­erty law be­fore the land re­gister

 

The prop­erty law un­der this Code in gen­er­al comes in­to force even if the land re­gisters have not been es­tab­lished.

Art. 48  

7. Ef­fect of can­ton­al forms

 

1 When the prop­erty law comes in­to force and be­fore the in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister, the can­tons may des­ig­nate the pro­ced­ures, such those for draw­ing up doc­u­ments or re­gis­tra­tion in the re­gisters for land, li­ens and ser­vitudes, that will im­me­di­ately have the ef­fect of be­ing re­cor­ded in the land re­gister.

2 Even without or be­fore the in­tro­duc­tion of the land re­gister, it may be provided that these pro­ced­ures have the same ef­fect as be­ing re­cor­ded in the land re­gister in the case of the cre­ation, trans­fer, modi­fic­a­tion and ex­tinc­tion of rights in rem.

3 However, in the event that the land re­gister it­self is not in­tro­duced or an­oth­er equi­val­ent in­sti­tu­tion es­tab­lished, these pro­ced­ures do not have the same ef­fect as be­ing re­cor­ded in the land re­gister in re­la­tion to third parties re­ly­ing there­on in good faith.

Art. 49798  

F. Pre­scrip­tion

 

1 Where the new law spe­cifies a longer peri­od than the pre­vi­ous law, the new law ap­plies, provided pre­scrip­tion has not yet taken ef­fect un­der the pre­vi­ous law.

2 Where the new law spe­cifies a short­er peri­od, the pre­vi­ous law ap­plies.

3 The entry in­to force of the new law does not change the date on which an pending pre­script­ive peri­od began, un­less the law provides oth­er­wise.

4 Oth­er­wise, the new law gov­erns pre­scrip­tion from the time it comes in­to force.

798 Amended by An­nex No 3 of the FA of 15 June 2018 (Re­vi­sion of the Law on Pre­scrip­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2020 (AS 2018 5343; BBl 2014 235).

Art. 50  

G. Forms of con­tract

 

Con­tracts con­cluded be­fore this Code comes in­to force re­main val­id even if their form is not in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions of the new law.

Chapter Two: Introductory and Transitional Provisions

Art. 51  

A. Re­peal of can­ton­al civil law

 

On com­mence­ment of the Civil Code, can­ton­al civil law pro­vi­sions are re­pealed un­less fed­er­al law provides oth­er­wise.

Art. 52  

B. Sup­ple­ment­ary can­ton­al pro­vi­sions

I. Rights and du­ties of the can­tons

 

1 The can­tons shall en­act the pro­vi­sions re­quired to sup­ple­ment the Civil Code, in­clud­ing in par­tic­u­lar those gov­ern­ing the com­pet­ent au­thor­it­ies799 and the es­tab­lish­ment of civil re­gis­tries, guard­i­an­ship au­thor­it­ies and land re­gister of­fices.

2 The can­tons shall en­act any such sup­ple­ment­ary pro­vi­sions as are re­quired to im­ple­ment the Civil Code and may do so pro­vi­sion­ally in the form of or­din­ances.800

3 Can­ton­al pro­vi­sions on re­gister law re­quire fed­er­al ap­prov­al.801

4 No­tice of can­ton­al pro­vi­sions on oth­er mat­ters must be giv­en to the Fed­er­al Of­fice of Justice.802

799 Presently the Adult pro­tec­tion au­thor­ity (see Art. 440).

800Amended by No II 21 of the FA of 15 Dec. 1989 on Ap­prov­al of Can­ton­al De­crees by the Con­fed­er­a­tion, in force since 1 Feb. 1991 (AS 1991 362; BBl 1988 II 1333).

801 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

802In­ser­ted by No II 21 of the FA of 15 Dec. 1989 on Ap­prov­al of Can­ton­al De­crees by the Con­fed­er­a­tion, in force since 1 Feb. 1991 (AS 1991 362; BBl 1988 II 1333). Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 19 Dec. 2008 (Adult Pro­tec­tion Law, Law of Per­sons and Law of Chil­dren), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2011 725; BBl 20067001).

Art. 53  

II. Sub­sti­tute or­din­ances

 

1 Where a can­ton has failed to en­act the ne­ces­sary pro­vi­sions in time, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall pro­vi­sion­ally en­act sub­sti­tute or­din­ances and no­ti­fy the Fed­er­al As­sembly.

2 Where a can­ton re­frains from ex­er­cising its powers in re­spect of mat­ters for which sup­ple­ment­ary le­gis­la­tion is not in­dis­pens­able, the pro­vi­sions of the Civil Code re­main ap­plic­able.

Art. 54  

C. Des­ig­na­tion of com­pet­ent au­thor­it­ies

 

1 Where the Civil Code makes ref­er­ence to a com­pet­ent au­thor­ity, the can­tons shall des­ig­nate such au­thor­ity, be it ex­ist­ing or yet to be cre­ated.

2 Where the Civil Code does not make ex­press ref­er­ence to a court or an ad­min­is­trat­ive au­thor­ity, the can­tons may des­ig­nate either as the com­pet­ent au­thor­ity.

3 Un­less the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Decem­ber 2008803 ap­plies, the can­tons reg­u­late pro­ceed­ings.804

803 SR 272

804 Amended by An­nex 1 No II 3 of the Civil Pro­ced­ure Code of 19 Dec. 2008, in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 1739; BBl 2006 7221).

Art. 55  

D. Pub­lic deeds

I. In gen­er­al

 

1 The can­tons shall reg­u­late the man­ner in which pub­lic deeds are drawn up on their ter­rit­ory.

2 They en­act pro­vi­sions for the draw­ing up of pub­lic deeds in for­eign lan­guages.

Art. 55a806  

II. Elec­tron­ic cop­ies and leg­al­isa­tions

 

1 The can­tons may au­thor­ise the au­then­tic­at­ing of­fi­cials to make elec­tron­ic cop­ies of the pub­lic deeds that they is­sue.

2 They may also au­thor­ise the au­then­tic­at­ing of­fi­cials to cer­ti­fy elec­tron­ic­ally that the elec­tron­ic cop­ies that they cre­ate cor­res­pond to the ori­gin­al doc­u­ments on pa­per and that the sig­na­tures are genu­ine.

3 The au­then­tic­at­ing of­fi­cial must use a qual­i­fied elec­tron­ic sig­na­ture based on a qual­i­fied cer­ti­fic­ate from a re­cog­nised pro­vider of cer­ti­fic­a­tion ser­vices in ac­cord­ance with the Fed­er­al Act of 18 March 2016807 on Elec­tron­ic Sig­na­tures.808

4 The Fed­er­al Coun­cil shall is­sue im­ple­ment­ing pro­vi­sions that guar­an­tee the in­ter­op­er­ab­il­ity of com­puter sys­tems and the in­teg­rity, au­then­ti­city and se­cur­ity of the data.

806 In­ser­ted by No I 2 of the FA of 11 Dec. 2009 (Re­gister Mort­gage Cer­ti­fic­ates and oth­er amend­ments to Prop­erty Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2012 (AS 2011 4637; BBl 2007 5283).

807 SR 943.03

808 Amended by An­nex No II 3 of the FA of 18 March 2016 on Elec­tron­ic Sig­na­tures, in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 4651; BBl 2014 1001).

Art. 56809  

E. Al­loc­a­tion of wa­ter rights

 

Un­til such time as fed­er­al law reg­u­lates the al­loc­a­tion of wa­ter rights, the fol­low­ing pro­vi­sion ap­plies:

Rights to pub­lic wa­ters may be re­cor­ded in the land re­gister as dis­tinct and per­man­ent rights, provided they have been gran­ted for at least 30 years or in­def­in­itely and are not al­loc­ated to a dom­in­ant prop­erty in the form of an ease­ment.

809See cur­rent Art. 59 of the FA of 22 Dec. 1916 on Ex­ploit­a­tion of Wa­ter Re­sources (SR 721.80).

Art. 57810  

F.–H. ...

 

810Re­pealed by Art. 53 para. 1 item b of the FA of 8 Nov. 1934 on Banks and Sav­ings Banks, with ef­fect from 1 March 1935 (AS 51 117; BS 10 337; BBl 1934 I 171).

Art. 58811  

J. Debt en­force­ment and bank­ruptcy

 

When this Code comes in­to force, the Fed­er­al Act of 11 April 1889812 on Debt en­force­ment and Bank­ruptcy is amended as fol­lows:

...813

811Last four art­icles re­numbered ow­ing to re­voc­a­tion of the ori­gin­al Art. 58 and 59, in ac­cord­ance with No I of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions trans­ition­al pro­vi­sions, in force since 1 Jan. 1912 (AS 27 317; BS 2 199; BBl 1905 II 1, 1909 III 725, 1911 I 845).

812SR 281.1

813For text, see the fed­er­al act re­ferred to. For the word­ing of Art. 132bis, 141 para. 3 and 258 para. 4, see AS 24 233Fi­nal Title Art. 60.

Art. 59814  

K. Ap­plic­a­tion of Swiss and for­eign law

 

1 The Fed­er­al Act of 25 June 1891815 on the Civil Law Status of Im­mig­rants and Tem­por­ary Res­id­ents re­mains in force in re­spect of the leg­al status of Swiss na­tion­als abroad and of for­eign­ers in Switzer­land and in­so­far as dif­fer­ent laws ap­ply in the can­tons.

2 ...816

3 The fol­low­ing pro­vi­sions are in­ser­ted in the Fed­er­al Act of 25 June 1891:

Art. 7a–7i

...

814Last four art­icles re­numbered ow­ing to re­voc­a­tion of the ori­gin­al Art. 58 and 59, in ac­cord­ance with No I of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions trans­ition­al pro­vi­sions, in force since 1 Jan. 1912 (AS 27 317; BS 2 199; BBl 1905 II 1, 1909 III 725, 1911 I 845).

815[BS 2 737; AS 1972 2819II 1, 1977 237II 1, 1986 122II 1. AS 1988 1776An­nex No I para. a]. See cur­rent IPLA of 18 Dec. 1987 (SR 291).

816Re­pealed by No I 2 of the FA of 5 Oct. 1984, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 1988 (AS 1986 122153Art. 1; BBl 1979 II 1191).

Art. 60817  

L. Re­peal of fed­er­al civil law

 

1 When this Code comes in­to force, any pro­vi­sions of fed­er­al civil law which con­tra­dict it are re­pealed.

2 In par­tic­u­lar, the fol­low­ing are re­pealed: the Fed­er­al Act of 24 Decem­ber 1874818 on the De­term­in­a­tion and Doc­u­ment­a­tion of Civil Status and Mar­riage; the Fed­er­al Act of 22 June 1881819 on Per­son­al Ca­pa­city to Act; the Fed­er­al Act of 14 June 1881820 on the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions.

3 The spe­cial acts con­cern­ing the rail­ways, steam­ships, the post, tele­graph and tele­phone ser­vices, the seizure and com­puls­ory li­quid­a­tion of rail­ways, the laws re­lat­ing to fact­ory em­ploy­ment and li­ab­il­ity arising from the op­er­a­tion of factor­ies and oth­er en­ter­prises, and all fed­er­al laws on mat­ters gov­erned by the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions which have been en­acted to sup­ple­ment the Fed­er­al Act of 14 June 1881 on the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions, re­main in force.

817Amended by No I of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions trans­ition­al pro­vi­sions, in force since 1 Jan. 1912 (AS 27317; BS 2 199; BBl 1905II 1, 1909III 725, 1911I 845).

818[AS 1 506]

819[AS 5 556]

820[AS 5 635, 11 490; BS 2 784 Art. 103 para. 1]

Art. 61821  

M. Fi­nal Pro­vi­sion

 

1 This Code comes in­to force on 1 Janu­ary 1912.

2 Sub­ject to the Fed­er­al As­sembly’s ap­prov­al, the Fed­er­al Coun­cil is au­thor­ised to de­clare in­di­vidu­al pro­vi­sions ef­fect­ive at an earli­er date.

821Last four art­icles re­numbered ow­ing to re­voc­a­tion of the ori­gin­al Art. 58 and 59, in ac­cord­ance with No I of the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions trans­ition­al pro­vi­sions, in force since 1 Jan. 1912 (AS 27317; BBl 1905II 1, 1909III 725, 1911I 845).

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