Facts
In a land consolidation procedure in the Wehntal, the Wehntal Improvement Association, a public law corporation, formed the bodies to carry out the procedure. This included a valuation commission, whose chairman was Agricultural Instructor Peter. Later, Peter also became a member of the cantonal Agricultural Court, which had to decide on objections to the land consolidation.
The landowner Lyn Guhl filed an objection to the reallocation decision of the implementation commission. The Agricultural Court dismissed her objection, whereupon Guhl filed a complaint with the Federal Supreme Court. She claimed that the composition of the court with Agricultural Instructor Peter as a member of the valuation commission constituted a violation of Art. 58 para. 1 of the Federal Constitution.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that Art. 58 para. 1 of the Federal Constitution guarantees the individual the right to be judged by the competent, independent judge. It therefore examines whether the participation of Agricultural Instructor Peter in the land consolidation procedure constitutes a violation of this constitutional right.
The Federal Supreme Court first finds that although Peter was involved in an earlier stage of the procedure as chairman of the valuation commission, this does not necessarily lead to bias in the subsequent reallocation procedure. The land valuation and the reallocation are two clearly separate procedural steps under cantonal law, in which Peter was not prejudiced.
The fact that Peter was remunerated by the Improvement Association for his work…