Federal Act
on the Amendment of the Swiss Civil Code
(Part Five: The Code of Obligations)

¹ The surety is en­titled and ob­liged to plead against the cred­it­or all de­fences open to the prin­cip­al debt­or or his heirs which are not based on the in­solv­ency of the prin­cip­al debt­or. Surety­ship for ob­lig­a­tions that are not bind­ing on the prin­cip­al debt­or ow­ing to er­ror or in­ca­pa­city to make a con­tract or for time-barred ob­lig­a­tions is re­served.

² Where the prin­cip­al debt­or waives a de­fence that is open to him, the surety may nev­er­the­less plead it.

³ Where the surety fails to plead de­fences open to the prin­cip­al debt­or, he for­feits his right of re­course to the ex­tent that such de­fences would have re­leased him from li­ab­il­ity un­less he can prove that he was un­aware of them through no fault of his own.

⁴ A per­son who stands surety for an ob­lig­a­tion that is not ac­tion­able be­cause it stems from gambling or bet­ting may plead the same de­fences as are open to the prin­cip­al debt­or even if he was aware of that de­fect.