Facts
An Austrian national, Ms. Salcher, born on 17 April 1947, who lives and works in a factory in Schönenwerd (Canton of Solothurn), gave birth on 31 December 1965 in Schönenwerd to a daughter. The guardianship authority of Schönenwerd appointed on 13 January 1966, based on Art. 311 CC, the notary Meier in Schönenwerd as the child's guardian. The latter filed on 29 September 1966, on behalf of the child, a paternity suit against the Austrian Weisseisen, who had worked in Switzerland until mid-1965 and has since then resided in Klagenfurt (Austria), before the District Court of Olten-Gösgen, with a view to obtaining maintenance contributions. The defendant contested the territorial jurisdiction of the court seized.Considerations
1. In the absence of an international convention regulating international jurisdiction for paternity suits seeking pecuniary benefits, the consistent case law of the Federal Tribunal applies Art. 312(1) CC, which allows a Swiss or foreign plaintiff to sue a foreigner domiciled abroad at the forum of his own domicile in Switzerland at the time of the child's birth. 2. The first domicile of the illegitimate child is at the seat of the guardianship authority that has appointed a guardian for him under Art. 311 CC, and not necessarily at the mother's domicile at the time of birth. When the mother is a minor foreign national who lives and works in Switzerland but whose parents live abroad, the guardian must be appointed by the guardianship authority of the place in Switzerland where the mother actually has the center of her personal relationships. 3. When the child brings an action at the forum of his domicile, determined by the seat of the guardianship authority, the…