The new Swiss Code of Civil Procedure aims to unify Switzerland’s existing civil code system and boost the country’s image as an ideal place for arbitration. Thomas Weibel, Patricia Roberty and Yvonne Pieles report
Although the substantive civil law of Switzerland has long been unified – the Swiss Civil Code recently celebrated its 100th birthday – this small country still affords itself the luxury of no less than 27 different systems of civil procedure. On many issues, the various civil procedure rules differ substantially from one another, making recourse to a local trial lawyer almost inevitable, and constituting a technical barrier to litigation.
