Facts
The complainant K. was a pastor of the church community U. since 1992 and was charged by the church leadership of the Evangelical Reformed State Church of the Canton of Aargau on March 16, 1999, for disciplinary offenses. The church council decided on September 23/November 26, 1999, to dismiss K. from the local church service with immediate effect. K. appealed against this decision, which was rejected by the appeals commission of the Evangelical Reformed State Church of the Canton of Aargau on April 5, 2000. The government council of the Canton of Aargau dismissed a complaint filed against this decision on September 20, 2000.
K. then filed a constitutional complaint with the Federal Court and complained that the appeals commission had decided with six instead of all seven members and thus violated the right to proper composition of the deciding authority.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined whether the appeals commission was properly composed when it made the decision. It found that the appeals commission is designed as the highest appeals instance of the state church and its members are elected by the synod. The commission has exclusively judicial functions and is not subject to the directive authority of a superior authority.
The court decided that the same requirements apply to the composition of the appeals commission as a judicial body as to a court. Since the appeals commission consists of seven members, all members must participate in decisions, unless there are deviating regulations. Since no such regulations exist, the appeals commission must decide in full composition.
The Federal Court found that the appeals commission decided on April 5,…