Swiss Legal Research

Swiss legal research that shows its sources.

Ask a question in Swiss law and receive the controlling statute, the BGer decision that applies it, and the cantonal precedent, all linked to official sources.

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Query: Is a verbal tenancy agreement valid under Swiss law?

OR Art. 253 / SR 220 Swiss Code of Obligations: Tenancy provisions Federal statute, controlling norm SR 220
BGE 134 III 241 Bundesgericht: Form requirements for tenancy Federal court decision, 2008 BGE
OGer ZH LB220046 Obergericht Zurich: Verbal agreement enforcement Cantonal precedent, 2022 ZH
The problem

Swiss law is three-tiered. Most tools only see one tier.

Federal statute sets the framework. Federal court decisions apply it. Cantonal precedent adapts it. Miss any tier and your answer is incomplete.

Keyword search misses context

Full-text search returns every document that contains a term, with no sense of which norm controls the situation you are researching.

Federal and cantonal sources are siloed

The federal database (fedlex.admin.ch) covers statutes. Cantonal court decisions live in 26 separate repositories with no unified search.

Citations rarely link to their authority

A brief that cites BGE 134 III 241 gives you a reference, not a trail. Tracing back to the controlling statute requires manual cross-referencing.

No single place for all four languages

Swiss law exists in German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Researching across language versions to verify equivalence is tedious and error-prone.

How it works

From question to traceable answer in three steps.

01

State your question in plain language

Ask in German, French, or Italian. No Boolean syntax required. Silex identifies the relevant field of law and the applicable cantonal jurisdiction.

02

Receive the controlling norm and its decision chain

The response traces from federal statute to BGer ruling to cantonal precedent. Each link in the chain shows the citation reference and a link to the primary source.

03

Verify every source directly

Every cited norm and decision links to the official version: fedlex.admin.ch for statutes, the BGer database for federal decisions, and cantonal portals for cantonal precedent.

See the full walkthrough
Coverage

Federal law plus all 26 cantons.

Silex covers the full Swiss legal system, from the federal level down to every cantonal court of appeal.

26

Cantonal jurisdictions covered

All German, French, Italian, and Romansh cantons
4

Official languages supported

DE, FR, IT, RM query and response
100%

Sources link to primary texts

fedlex.admin.ch, BGer, cantonal portals
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Pricing

Start free. Add cantons as you need them.

The free plan covers federal law and BGer decisions. Solo and Firm plans unlock all 26 cantonal jurisdictions.

Free

CHF 0 /month

10 queries per month. Federal law only.

  • Federal statutes (SR)
  • BGer federal decisions
  • Citation trail view
  • German, French, Italian queries
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Solo

CHF 79 /month

100 queries per month. All 26 cantons. 1 user.

  • Everything in Free
  • All 26 cantonal courts
  • Cantonal precedent search
  • Export citations to PDF
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For law firms

Firm

CHF 249 /month

Unlimited queries. All 26 cantons. Up to 5 users.

  • Everything in Solo
  • 5 team members
  • Shared query history
  • Priority support
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Annual billing saves 20%. See full pricing details including the annual rate for each plan.

Research that holds up under scrutiny.

Every answer from Silex includes the exact citation trail a court or opposing counsel would follow. Start with a free account today.

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