Facts
The Angolan national [L.] and his Swiss fiancée [R.] initially applied in July 1987 in the Canton of Jura for the publication of their marriage. The supervisory authority in the civil status office rejected this in July 1989, as the required marriage documents had not been submitted. After [L.] moved to [R.] in X. in the Canton of Basel-Landschaft in February 1989, the engaged couple filed a new marriage publication application with the civil status office in X. in May 1989. However, the supervisory authority in the Canton of Basel-Landschaft rejected this application on the grounds that the jurisdiction still lay with the Canton of Jura, as a negative decision there could not be circumvented by a new procedure in another canton. [L.] and [R.] then filed an administrative court appeal with the Federal Supreme Court.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court decided that the engaged couple are indeed entitled to initiate a new marriage publication procedure in the canton where the groom now has his domicile after a change of domicile. There is no blocking effect of the previous negative decision in the Canton of Jura. The Federal Supreme Court therefore set aside the decision of the…