Facts
The case concerns a man named F. who was fined by the Police Magistrate's Office of the City of Zurich in summary fine proceedings because he had parked his passenger vehicle on the sidewalk in front of the houses Rämistrasse 4 and 6 in Zurich after 8 pm in January 1979. However, the single judge at the District Court of Zurich acquitted F., as he considered the signage to be unclear. Thereupon, the Police Magistrate's Office filed a nullity appeal with the High Court of the Canton of Zurich, which then convicted F. for repeated violation of various traffic regulations.
F. in turn filed a nullity appeal with the Federal Supreme Court and requested the annulment of the High Court's judgment and his acquittal. The Police Magistrate's Office requested the dismissal of the appeal.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court granted F.'s nullity appeal and annulled the judgment of the High Court. It concluded that the traffic sign in place at the time on Rämistrasse did not clearly signal the prohibition of night parking on the sidewalk.
While the sign did signal a general parking prohibition for the street, an express deviating regulation was indicated for the sidewalk, according to which there was only a daytime parking prohibition, but no restriction at night. This…