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The Neutrality of Switzerland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

Gordon E. Sherman
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Extract

Switzerland’s neutrality, as exhibited during the present European conflict and also on the occasion of other wars of the past century, does not found itself simply upon principles of international law, but rests directly upon a series of explicit international and constitutional documents and is deeply interlocked with the historical development of the country and with the foundation and growth of its government. Differentiating itself widely from that attitude of mere aloofness exhibited by a nation which declines to join a struggle in which others may be engaged, Swiss neutrality is an essential element of the country’s governmental existence and is intended by the nature and sanctions of its origin to be as permanent as the nation itself. Such an aspect of neutrality is termed neutralization; though in origin quite dissimilar to that of Switzerland, this international quality was also characteristic, at the outbreak of the present war in 1914, of Belgium and Luxemburg, as well as of a variety of smaller governmental entities or adjuncts.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , April 1918 , pp. 241 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1918

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References

1 Authorities: Recueil International des Traités du XIXe Stiècle (Descamps et Renault), tome premier, 1801–1825; La Suisse, Étude Géographique Dérnographique, Politique, Économique et Historique; Geschickte der schweizerischen Politik (Professor Schollenberger, of Zurich); Au Congrès de Vienne, Journal de Jean-Gabriel Eynard (ed. by Édouard Chapuisat); La Suisse au Dix-Neuvième Siècle (ed. by Professor Seippel of Zurich); Geschichte und Texte der Bundesverfassungen der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft (S. Kaiser u. J. Strieker); Die Bundesverfassungen der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft (Professor Hilty); La Suisse et les Traitis de 1815 (É. Chapuisat); Notre Neutralité, (Lucien Cramer); La Vérité sur la Neutralité de la Savoie du Nord (F. Marullaz); La Vérité sur la Zone Franche de la Haute-Sawie (F. Marullaz); Les Zones Franche de la Haute-Savoie et du Pays de Gex (Henri de Grix); Das Bundesstaatsrecht der Schweiz (Professor Schollenberger); Les Conséquences Juridiques de la Guerre en Suisse (E. Kuhn, of Zurich; éd. Franchise par H. Bonnard et P. Secretan); Die Neutralität der Schweiz (Professor Hilty).