Facts
On 24 June 1997, the appellants domiciled in the canton of Zurich announced various corporate law transactions to the commercial register of Zurich for registration. In three letters dated 18 and 23 September 1997, the commercial register informed the companies that the registrations were temporarily suspended due to various defects described in the letters, and invited them to provide the necessary documents to remedy these defects. By appeal of 2 October 1997, the appellants requested the administrative court of the canton of Zurich to order the registration of the required registrations in the commercial register, subsidiarily to transfer the appeal to the justice department of the canton of Zurich for examination on the merits and to issue an interim decision subject to appeal on the lack of jurisdiction. By decision of 24 October 1997, the administrative court (3rd chamber) did not enter into the matter for lack of exhaustion of legal remedies and referred the matter to the justice department of the canton of Zurich for it to conduct the appeal procedure in commercial register matters.Considerations
According to Art. 98a of the Judiciary Act, the cantons are now obliged to provide for judicial review also in the field of the commercial register. A cantonal regulation providing for administrative supervision followed…