Rejection of a daughter's application for admission to a public-law corporation violates the principle of equality

Facts

Franziska Mächler, the daughter of a member of the Genosssame Lachen, a public-law corporation in the Canton of Schwyz, applied for admission to the Genosssame. The Cooperative Council and the Cantonal Government of Schwyz rejected her application. Franziska Mächler then filed a complaint with the Administrative Court of the Canton of Schwyz, which upheld her complaint and ordered her admission to the Genosssame. The Genosssame Lachen then filed a constitutional appeal with the Federal Supreme Court.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the constitutional appeal. It finds that the statutes of the Genosssame Lachen, in particular § 4, constitute indirect discrimination against the married cooperative citizen or her descendants and lead to further unequal treatment. There is indeed a substantive connection between the regulations on name and citizenship rights dependent on the civil status of the cooperative citizen and the partial unequal treatment. However, federal law does not necessarily define the requirements for membership in the Genosssame, so that the Genosssame is not…