Swiss Legal Source Authority Triage Enrique G Zbinden

Step 3: Apply the Swiss source hierarchy

Use this hierarchy when deciding what source to rely on:

1. Official primary law: Fedlex; Official Compilation; Classified/Systematic Compilation; treaties; official cantonal and communal law portals.
2. Official case law: Federal Supreme Court; Federal Administrative Court; Federal Criminal Court; Federal Patent Court; cantonal court portals.
3. Official legislative materials: Federal Gazette; Curia Vista; Official Bulletin; consultation materials; dispatches/messages.
4. Official regulator practice: FINMA, FDPIC/EDÖB, COMCO/WEKO, Swissmedic, SECO, FTA/ESTV, BAKOM/OFCOM, fedpol/MROS, and other competent authorities.
5. Registers and legal-state sources: Zefix, cantonal commercial registers, SHAB/SOGC, Swissreg, public insolvency and publication sources.
6. Open discovery / AI-ready layers: OpenCaseLaw, LexFind, Entscheidsuche, opendata.swiss datasets, Fedlex-JOLux, open APIs and bulk datasets.
7. Doctrine and expert authority: Commentaries, treatises, textbooks, expert opinions and academic works. Doctrine is persuasive only. Use after official sources. See resources/doctrine-and-expert-authority-map.md.
8. Secondary orientation: GlobaLex, Library of Congress, UZH/CLDS resources, open-access journals, university guides, law-firm notes and practitioner commentary. Useful for broad context and discovery but not authoritative.
9. Commercial or login-based sources: Swisslex, Lawsearch/Weblaw, Legalis, private legal AI platforms, firm knowledge bases. Treat as useful but not public authority.

Do not treat a discovery layer as controlling authority merely because it is searchable or AI-accessible.

Step 4: Verify language, version, and temporal status

For each material source, record:

• Official language version checked: DE / FR / IT / RM / EN.
• Whether the English version is official, informational, or uncertain.
• Law-in-force date, effective date, amendment date, and transitional period if relevant.
• Whether the material is current law, draft law, consultation material, legislative history, regulator guidance, case law, doctrine, or open-data metadata.
• Whether the source is official, open-data, aggregator/discovery, commercial, academic, or secondary.

Flag multilingual divergence risk where wording could affect interpretation.

Step 5: Identify Swiss-specific uncertainty flags

Always consider these flags:

• Cantonal competence: answer may vary by canton.
• Communal/local competence: permits, zoning, public order, local regulations, or procurement may depend on commune.
• Sector regulator: FINMA, FDPIC/EDÖB, COMCO/WEKO, Swissmedic, SECO, FTA/ESTV, BAKOM/OFCOM, fedpol/MROS, or other authority may control.
• Public vs private employer/entity: employment, procurement, transparency, and public-law remedies may change.
• Professional secrecy or privilege: especially lawyers, healthcare, finance, auditors, fiduciaries, and regulated professionals.
• Self-regulation: SRO, exchange, professional association, or industry code may be relevant but not equivalent to statute.
• Pending reform: draft law, consultation, Federal Council dispatch, parliamentary business, or transition period may affect advice.
• Source currency: outdated law, old practice, superseded guidance, or pre-reform case law.
• Register fact vs legal conclusion: company/register data shows legal state but may not resolve authority, enforceability, or liability.
• Human judgment required: interpretation, risk appetite, legal strategy, and client-specific facts cannot be reduced to source lookup.

Step 6: Produce the answer in a safe frame

Use the following output structure unless the user asks for a different format.

# Swiss Legal Source Map

## 1. Issue classification
[Classify the issue and state key assumptions.]

## 2. Likely authority layers
| Layer | Relevance | Source path to check | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal law | ... | ... | Official / primary |
| Cantonal law | ... | ... | Requires canton |
| Regulator | ... | ... | Guidance / circular / enforcement / binding rule |

## 3. Primary sources to check first
[List official statutes, ordinances, treaties, court databases, regulator materials, registers, or cantonal portals.]

## 4. Discovery and secondary sources
[List OpenCaseLaw, LexFind, Entscheidsuche, opendata.swiss, academic guides, commentary, etc., with a warning not to treat them as authority unless appropriate.]

## 5. Language, version, and date checks
[DE/FR/IT/RM/EN; in-force date; amendment/reform risk; translation caution.]

## 6. Preliminary legal-information frame
[Give only source-grounded legal information. Do not provide a definitive client-specific legal conclusion unless the sources and facts support it.]

## 7. Swiss-specific uncertainty flags
[Cantonal, regulator, professional secrecy, pending reform, source currency, factual gaps.]

## 8. Human review boundary
[Information only / lawyer review recommended / lawyer review required / authority confirmation required / regulator-specific advice required.]

## 9. Review receipt
- Sources checked:
- Sources not checked:
- Assumptions:
- Remaining gaps:
- Date of triage:

Compact mode

When the user needs a brief response, provide:

**Swiss source route:** [federal/cantonal/regulator/register/contractual/mixed]
**Official sources first:** [sources]
**Discovery aids:** [sources]
**Key Swiss flags:** [cantonal/language/regulator/reform/facts]
**Review boundary:** [what needs Swiss lawyer or authority review]

Prohibited shortcuts

Do not:

• Start with a confident legal conclusion before mapping authority.
• Treat Switzerland as legally uniform where cantonal or communal law may matter.
• Treat English translations as controlling without checking status.
• Treat regulator guidance, FAQs, or law-firm commentary as binding law without qualification.
• Treat OpenCaseLaw, LexFind, Entscheidsuche, or another aggregator as a substitute for official sources.
• Ignore source date, in-force date, transitional provisions, or pending reform.
• Draft filings, regulatory submissions, or advice-to-client conclusions without clear human-review warnings.

Navigation

Use the reference files in resources/:

• swiss-legal-source-map.md — curated Swiss source list by source type.
• source-hierarchy.md — authority hierarchy and source-status taxonomy.
• doctrine-and-expert-authority-map.md — doctrine and expert-authority guidance.
• output-template.md — reusable Swiss source-map template.
• examples.md — sample outputs for common Swiss legal questions.