Facts
The Court of Cassation had to deal with the question in its judgment of December 3, 1971, of how the period of three months within which a criminal complaint can be filed is to be calculated according to Art. 29 SCC. The respondent had gained knowledge of the defamatory statements made by the appellant against Paul Bai at the earliest during the course of October 6, 1967. The lower court had established that the three-month period began on October 6, 1967, and therefore expired on January 6, 1968.
The parties were the appellants and the respondent. The case was handled by the Court of Cassation. The decision was made on December 3, 1971.
Considerations
The Court of Cassation changed its previous case law and decided that the day on which the period begins is not to be counted. Previously, the Court of Cassation had decided in BGE 77 IV 208 that the day on which the period begins should be counted. The Court of Cassation justified its change in case law by stating that there were no indications that the federal legislature had waived the enactment of a provision on the calculation of periods when creating the SCC, in order to establish an order deviating from the norms of the rest of federal law.
The Court of Cassation further stated that the method of calculation provided for in the corresponding provisions of the rest of federal law should be applied, which was also adopted by most cantonal codes of civil procedure. This solution is all the more compelling as the Court of Cassation had also decided in…