Institute for Civil Law

Welcome

Thank you for visiting our website. The Institute for Civil Law (Zivilistisches Seminar) is part of the Department of Private Law. It is the University of Bern's competence center for Swiss and European Private Law as well as for international laws and principles in the field of Private Law (e.g. UN Sales Convention or Incoterms). Faculty and staff focus on research and teaching in the field of Civil Law (Code of Obligations, Civil Code and ancillary statutes). The tenured professors of the Institute also head the Institute of Banking Law (Professor Susan Emmenegger), the Institute for Liability and Insurance Law (Professor Frédéric Krauskopf) and the Institute for Notary Law and Notarial practice (Professor Stephan Wolf). Furthermore, the Institute coaches students who take part in national and international moot court competitions such as the prestigious Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot .

For more information see below.

NEWS

The Bernese Team won silver at the Willem C. Vis Moot International Commercial Arbitration Moot!

The University of Bern has competed at the renowned Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot for the 15th time. This year, the University of Bern was represented by Colin Fehlmann, Raphael Geissmann, Jan Heller, Elena Konvalina, Lena Lang and Oliver Strässler.
As the pre-moots were virtual as well, this year’s moot team had the chance to take part in pre moots outside of Europe and to then meet teams from all around the globe already. The mooties pleaded in virtual England, Malaysia and Mexico against teams from for example India, Mexico and the USA.
This year’s team was able to continue the ongoing success of the preceding Bernese teams! The team’s memorandum for claimant was ranked 2nd overall and both Elena Konvalina and Oliver Strässler managed to get an honourable mention for best individual oralist.

Congratulations to the team and coaches for this sensational result!

Solution outlines & Grade statistics

Here you can find information, in German, regarding exams.

Jobs

CBDC Research Forum Berne

On the 19th of November, the Institute for Civil Law, together with the Department of Economics, organized the “CBDC Research Forum Bern”, bringing together national and international researchers and practitioners. The event was held under Chatham House rule and virtually connected 30 participants from Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Italy for talks and discussion.
With the increasing acceptance and usability of virtual currencies, central banks and state actors began to explore and adopt emerging solutions to further digitize financial markets. After China, for example, tested a first prototype of a Central Bank Digital Currency
(CBDC) in practice, the European Central Bank also presented plans to introduce a digital Euro to the public. Similarly, the SNB in cooperation with SIX has been exploring and evaluating DLTs as an alternative CBDC and settlement infrastructure since 2019.
Talks and discussions provided insights into practical developments, case studies and empirical research into emerging CBDC systems.
Furthermore, implications from a financial market, supervisory and civil law perspective were discussed in detail.
Speakers: Raphael Auer (Keynote, BIS), Nino Landerer (SNB), Jonas Groß (University of Bayreuth), Aurelia Brine (University of Marburg), Corinne Zellweger-Gutknecht (Basel University), Marco Dell’Erba (University of Zurich), Simon Hess (University of Salzburg) and Christoph Kreiterling (BAFIN).

Great Success for the Bernese Vis Moot Teams!

For the fourteenth time, a team from the University of Bern participated in the prestigious "Willem C. Vis Moot Court in International Commercial Arbitration" in Vienna. This Edition of the Competition came with a first: Because of the coronavirus, the competition did not take place in Vienna but virtually on a video conference platform from 4 to 9 April 2020.
Unlike Vienna, luckily the team was able to travel to “Pre-Moot” competitions in Riga and Edinburgh and was able to achieve excellent results. In Riga, the team placed 2nd overall with Tim George ranking as the runner up for best oralist. In Edinburgh the team ranked 3rd overall with Loïc Stucki placed 4th for best oralist. At the Swiss Day Loïc Stucki placed 3rd for best oralist.
In virtual Vienna, the team, consisting of Tim George, David Keller, Sara Zimmermann, Miro Vuille und Loïc Stucki, made it to the round of the final 32. This is a great success and is the third time that the University of Bern has made it to the oral finals since 2016 and 2019. The excellent result was
Congratulations on this outstanding achievement!

Career paths at the University of Bern

The Department for Gender Equality, in its portrait series, addresses the question 'What is excellence, really?'. Among the more than 50 portrayed women and men is Prof. Dr. med. Susan Emmenegger, in a double portrait with Prof. Dr. med. Axel Tschentscher. The two of them discuss their own career paths, the hurdles and good fortune and advise: 'Stick with it - it's worth it!'

Bernese succeed at Swiss Moot Court

On 16 February 2019, the Bernese law students Sara D’Antoni and Jan Heller defeated the St. Gallen team in the finale of the Swiss Moot Court and won the most significant competition for law students in Switzerland. At the Federal Surpreme Court in Lucerne, where the competition was held, the team defeated another 46 teams from all over Switzerland. The teams had to plead against each other in a complex inheritance dispute in various rounds. The two Bernese students convinced the jury of 12, consisting of experts in legal research and practice, with a strong performance and great expertise, for example with correct and precise responses to interposed questions from the jury. The Institute for Civil Law and the University of Bern proudly acknowledge their great success and congratulate the winning team.

Commentary on the partial revision of the Notary's Act (NG; BSG 169.11)

Skilex in Mürren with Lord Jonathan Mance and Lady Mary Arden from the UK Supreme Court

From 10-13 January the Skilex took place in Mürren. The participants discussed with Lord Justice Baron Jonathan Mance and Lady Justice Mary Arden questions regarding the validity of No-Oral-Modification Clauses on the basis of a recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court.

Comparative law symposium on the Contract of Inheritance 17/18 May 2018

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