-
- Art. 3 FC
- Art. 5a FC
- Art. 6 FC
- Art. 10 FC
- Art. 16 FC
- Art. 17 FC
- Art. 20 FC
- Art. 22 FC
- Art. 29a FC
- Art. 30 FC
- Art. 32 FC
- Art. 42 FC
- Art. 43 FC
- Art. 43a FC
- Art. 55 FC
- Art. 56 FC
- Art. 60 FC
- Art. 68 FC
- Art. 75b FC
- Art. 77 FC
- Art. 96 para. 2 lit. a FC
- Art. 110 FC
- Art. 117a FC
- Art. 118 FC
- Art. 123b FC
- Art. 136 FC
- Art. 166 FC
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- Art. 11 CO
- Art. 12 CO
- Art. 50 CO
- Art. 51 CO
- Art. 84 CO
- Art. 143 CO
- Art. 144 CO
- Art. 145 CO
- Art. 146 CO
- Art. 147 CO
- Art. 148 CO
- Art. 149 CO
- Art. 150 CO
- Art. 701 CO
- Art. 715 CO
- Art. 715a CO
- Art. 734f CO
- Art. 785 CO
- Art. 786 CO
- Art. 787 CO
- Art. 788 CO
- Transitional provisions to the revision of the Stock Corporation Act of June 19, 2020
- Art. 808c CO
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- Art. 2 PRA
- Art. 3 PRA
- Art. 4 PRA
- Art. 6 PRA
- Art. 10 PRA
- Art. 10a PRA
- Art. 11 PRA
- Art. 12 PRA
- Art. 13 PRA
- Art. 14 PRA
- Art. 15 PRA
- Art. 16 PRA
- Art. 17 PRA
- Art. 19 PRA
- Art. 20 PRA
- Art. 21 PRA
- Art. 22 PRA
- Art. 23 PRA
- Art. 24 PRA
- Art. 25 PRA
- Art. 26 PRA
- Art. 27 PRA
- Art. 29 PRA
- Art. 30 PRA
- Art. 31 PRA
- Art. 32 PRA
- Art. 32a PRA
- Art. 33 PRA
- Art. 34 PRA
- Art. 35 PRA
- Art. 36 PRA
- Art. 37 PRA
- Art. 38 PRA
- Art. 39 PRA
- Art. 40 PRA
- Art. 41 PRA
- Art. 42 PRA
- Art. 43 PRA
- Art. 44 PRA
- Art. 45 PRA
- Art. 46 PRA
- Art. 47 PRA
- Art. 48 PRA
- Art. 49 PRA
- Art. 50 PRA
- Art. 51 PRA
- Art. 52 PRA
- Art. 53 PRA
- Art. 54 PRA
- Art. 55 PRA
- Art. 56 PRA
- Art. 57 PRA
- Art. 58 PRA
- Art. 59a PRA
- Art. 59b PRA
- Art. 59c PRA
- Art. 62 PRA
- Art. 63 PRA
- Art. 67 PRA
- Art. 67a PRA
- Art. 67b PRA
- Art. 73 PRA
- Art. 73a PRA
- Art. 75 PRA
- Art. 75a PRA
- Art. 76 PRA
- Art. 76a PRA
- Art. 90 PRA
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- Vorb. zu Art. 1 FADP
- Art. 1 FADP
- Art. 2 FADP
- Art. 3 FADP
- Art. 5 lit. f und g FADP
- Art. 6 Abs. 6 and 7 FADP
- Art. 7 FADP
- Art. 10 FADP
- Art. 11 FADP
- Art. 12 FADP
- Art. 14 FADP
- Art. 15 FADP
- Art. 19 FADP
- Art. 20 FADP
- Art. 22 FADP
- Art. 23 FADP
- Art. 25 FADP
- Art. 26 FADP
- Art. 27 FADP
- Art. 31 para. 2 lit. e FADP
- Art. 33 FADP
- Art. 34 FADP
- Art. 35 FADP
- Art. 38 FADP
- Art. 39 FADP
- Art. 40 FADP
- Art. 41 FADP
- Art. 42 FADP
- Art. 43 FADP
- Art. 44 FADP
- Art. 44a FADP
- Art. 45 FADP
- Art. 46 FADP
- Art. 47 FADP
- Art. 47a FADP
- Art. 48 FADP
- Art. 49 FADP
- Art. 50 FADP
- Art. 51 FADP
- Art. 54 FADP
- Art. 57 FADP
- Art. 58 FADP
- Art. 60 FADP
- Art. 61 FADP
- Art. 62 FADP
- Art. 63 FADP
- Art. 64 FADP
- Art. 65 FADP
- Art. 66 FADP
- Art. 67 FADP
- Art. 69 FADP
- Art. 72 FADP
- Art. 72a FADP
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- Art. 2 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 3 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 4 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 5 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 6 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 7 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 8 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 9 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 11 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 12 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 25 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 29 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 32 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 33 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
- Art. 34 CCC (Convention on Cybercrime)
FEDERAL CONSTITUTION
CODE OF OBLIGATIONS
FEDERAL LAW ON PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW
LUGANO CONVENTION
CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE
FEDERAL ACT ON POLITICAL RIGHTS
CIVIL CODE
FEDERAL ACT ON CARTELS AND OTHER RESTRAINTS OF COMPETITION
FEDERAL ACT ON INTERNATIONAL MUTUAL ASSISTANCE IN CRIMINAL MATTERS
DEBT ENFORCEMENT AND BANKRUPTCY ACT
FEDERAL ACT ON DATA PROTECTION
SWISS CRIMINAL CODE
CYBERCRIME CONVENTION
- I. Subject of the regulation
- II. Formation principles for legal entities
- III. Legal situation before legally effective formation
- IV. Legal entities with an illegal or immoral purpose
- Bibliography
I. Subject of the regulation
1 Art. 52 CC regulates the final point in the process of formation of legal entities, namely the acquisition of legal personality. Contrary to what the marginal note (“personality”) suggests, it is only about the acquisition of legal personality and not about its content and scope, which are regulated in Art. 53 CC (“legal capacity”).
2 Art. 52 CC actually only regulates the effect of the last step in the process of creating a legal person (usually its entry in the commercial register). The step itself is regulated in detail in the CRO, while its fundamentals (articles of association or foundation deed) are regulated in substantive and formal terms (resolution, formation of the foundation, other possible formal requirements) in the respective legal provisions for the individual legal entities.
II. Formation principles for legal entities
A. Compulsory registration vs. freedom of establishment
3 Swiss law is based on the principle of the so-called compulsory registration or normative system in Art. 52 para. 1 CC. The formation of a legal entity is thus dependent on the mandatory, constitutive entry in the commercial register, to which there is a right if the legally determined requirements are met. The normative system is the opposite of the so-called concession system, which requires a sovereign act by an authority – an approval or recognition – as a prerequisite for its creation.
4 The compulsory registration or normative system applies to all legal entities not covered by the exception in para. 2. This results in a duty to register for the corporations under the CO and for foundations under private law.
5 Conversely, the principle of freedom of establishment applies to the legal entities listed in para. 2, which provides for the free formation of corporations. In this case, registration is also possible on a regular basis – this can be done voluntarily or required by law for other reasons, e.g. for non-profit associations that operate a commercial business, are subject to audit or are mainly involved in directly or indirectly collecting or distributing assets abroad (Art. 61 para. 2 no. 1, 2 and 3 CC) – but in this case it is always purely declaratory. The scope of para. 2 has been increasingly restricted over time – most recently, the so-called GAFI Act of December 12, 2014, which came into force on January 1, 2016, extended the compulsory registration requirement to include ecclesiastical foundations and family foundations. The scope of para. 2 thus remains restricted in federal private law to the non-profit association under Art. 60 et seq. CC. This arises – regardless of any registration requirements under Art. 61 para. 2 CC, which only lead to a declaratory entry – “as soon as the will to exist as a corporation is apparent from the statutes” (Art. 60 para. 1 CC).
B. Relationship to official approvals under other enactments
6 The official granting of a license to operate an activity requiring a license by the legal entity is to be separated from the attainment of legal personality. However, the legislator links these two questions in part via the requirement of entry in the commercial register.
III. Legal situation before legally effective formation
7 Before legal entities come into existence with legal effect, the law of the simple partnership (Art. 530 et seq. CO) applies to associations and other bodies (subject to special provisions, cf. Art. 645 CO) (Art. 62 CC). According to the controversial but prevailing view, however, foundations are considered nasciturus before they come into legal existence and are therefore subject to subsequent registration (Art. 31 para. 2 CC analogously).
IV. Legal entities with an illegal or immoral purpose
A. Non-acquisition of legal capacity
8 According to Art. 52, para. 3 CC, associations and institutions with illegal or immoral purposes cannot acquire the right of legal personality. This provision only applies to the initial illegality or immorality of the pursuit of the purpose; if a purpose becomes unlawful only subsequently, the legal entity must be dissolved.
9 The purpose of a legal entity is illegal if it violates mandatory written or unwritten norms of private or public law. Not least because of changing social attitudes, there is a less clearly defined picture with regard to immorality; a common formula describes it as “a violation of the sense of decency of all fair-minded people”. Both the purpose defined in the articles of association and the purpose actually pursued can justify the invalidity; according to case law (if the scope is sufficient), even the means used. According to doctrine and, in our opinion, rightly so, a distinction must be made with regard to the effect of the behavior of the governing body on the effectiveness of the legal entity: If a (permissible) statutory purpose is only substantiated by the actually pursued impermissible purpose and this was also originally intended, this constitutes a “simulation” (Art. 18 para. 1 CO); in this constellation, the impermissible actual pursuit of the purpose overrides the statutory purpose that is actually in line with the law and morality, which is why it is to be assumed that it was originally impermissible. If, on the other hand, the original intention was to pursue a permissible purpose and the governing bodies exceed the limits of this properly conceived purpose, which is set out in the statutes, then this is correctly recognized as a violation by the governing bodies, which may result in their liability (or the supervisory or judicial enforcement of conduct in accordance with the statutes), but cannot call into question the admissibility of the legal entity.
10 The legal consequence of a violation of these barriers is usually nullity. According to legal doctrine, non-recognition of legal personality is only appropriate for a small portion of the cases that fall under Art. 52, para. 3 CC and, in accordance with the protective purpose of the violated standard, it must be determined whether traditional nullity is the appropriate legal consequence for remedying the defect. Consequently, a decision must be made regarding partial nullity if this proves to be appropriate in the individual case.
11 If a legal entity is deemed null and void under Art. 52, para. 3 CC, it has in principle never existed. Nevertheless, doctrine and jurisprudence are unanimous in the opinion that a legally perfect legal entity must first be declared null and void by a civil court in a formal procedure before it can be legally treated as non-existent. Until that time, it is considered a legal entity. In other words, the lack of legal personality is to be established for the sake of legal certainty by (judicial) annulment.
12 The temporal onset of such an ascertainment of initial nullity is disputed. Some legal scholars assume that, in the case of an initially unlawful or immoral purpose, “although they would be void from the outset, if they have already entered into a relationship with third parties or have otherwise been implemented, they do not fall away ex tunc as entities that did not exist from the outset, but are recognized in their formal existence and repealed ex nunc in liquidation proceedings”. Another part of the doctrine – and this is probably the majority, especially in the context of foundations – assumes, on the other hand, that a legal entity that initially formally existed can also be declared null and void by the court with effect ex tunc. In the area of foundations, the Federal Supreme Court also appears to assume an ex tunc effect and thus an initial invalidity of the foundation transaction despite the “corresponding application of Art. 88 para. 2 CC”; in the context of associations, the Federal Supreme Court expressly assumes an ex tunc dissolution. However, at the same time, it seems to at least implicitly assume (at least in the external relationship) the existence of special assets to be liquidated ex nunc, whereby the liabilities towards possible (putative) debtors could be settled. This case law of the Federal Supreme Court is criticized in legal doctrine with the apt reasoning that no liquidation can take place without an existing legal entity. In the case of corporate bodies under the CO, the Federal Supreme Court assumes, with reference to the cure under Art. 643 para. 2 CO in the case of a stock corporation (and accordingly in the case of a limited partnership, Art. 764 para. 2 CO), that the legal entity is dissolved ex nunc; according to Riemer, this can also be assumed for the other corporate bodies under the CO (GmbH, cooperative).
B. Confiscation of assets
13 A confiscation of assets as defined by Art. 57 para. 3 CC is the fundamental consequence of ex tunc dissolution proceedings with liquidation – which applies to legal entities that were entered in the commercial register despite the original error or were not entered due to Art. 52 para. 2 CC. This applies to corporations under the CO, but not to family foundations that violate Art. 335 CC (in which case the foundation assets revert to the founder or their heirs upon declaration of nullity, the foundation assets revert to the founder or his heirs; for details, see the commentary in OK-Brugger/Humbel, Art. 57 CC N. 8 et seq.). The doctrine assumes that this should apply a fortiori in the event of the purpose becoming unlawful or immoral after the fact.
C. Possibility of a “healing” effect of the entry
14 An effective entry in the commercial register can indeed “heal” certain defects in formation, but in principle not defects of purpose within the meaning of Art. 52 para. 3 CC, because such a legal entity cannot come into existence. On closer inspection, this is a matter of preserving legal appearance for the sake of protecting third parties.
15 The possible exception for the joint-stock company according to Art. 643 para. 2 CO, according to which the right of personality is acquired through registration even if the conditions for registration were not actually met, is the subject of some controversy in doctrine. On the one hand, its applicability to initial defects of purpose is disputed, as is its transferability to other corporate bodies of the CO. However, this doctrinal dispute does not concern the legal entities of the CC: there is no obligation to register associations (Art. 52 para. 2 CC); with regard to foundations, the Federal Supreme Court has stated in BGE 96 II 273 E. 2, the principle of legal certainty must be judged differently for foundations than for other legal entities, which is why the entry in the commercial register is not to be awarded any remedial effect in the event of the nullity of the foundation transaction or the formal invalidity of the foundation deed.
D. Demarcation: Non-recognition of legal capacity due to “interference”
16 The non-recognition of the legal capacity of a legal entity due to the barriers of Art. 52 para. 3 CC must be distinguished from the non-recognition of the legal capacity due to a so-called “interference”. This non-recognition of legal capacity is based on the prohibition of abuse of rights (Art. 2 para. 2 CC; in some cases, para. 1 is also/additionally referred to) and makes it possible in cases where a legal entity is misused or used as a front (usually to avoid liability), the “veil of the legal entity” can be pierced to reach the (natural or legal) persons behind it. In the case of ordinary or direct piercing through, a third party controlling the legal entity is identified with the legal entity itself; in the case of reverse or indirect piercing through, the controlling third party is attributed “its” legal entity or its behavior. As always when applying Art. 2 para. 2 CC, restraint is required.
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