Peter Saladin, born 4 February 1935 in Basel, died 25 May 1997 in Berne, studied jurisprudence at the University of Basel, where he received a doctorate in 1961, being a scholar of Max Imboden.
After having practised as a lawyer, he went to the Freie Universität Berlin and to the Michigan Law School in 1962/1963. He then joined the federal administration, worked for the federal department of justice and was secretary of the scientific council. In 1969 he presented his habilitation thesis, a standard work on “Grundrechte im Wandel”, published in 1970. In 1972 he was ordinary professor for public law at the University of Basel, and between 1976 until his death he was professor of constitutional and administrative law at the University of Berne. He was mainly occupied with public church law, invested himself to the promotion of ecology and claimed rights of nature, and intended to also take into consideration the rights of future generations. His core interest remained the preservation of the dignity of every single human being. In 1991 he received the honour of doctor honoris causa by the University of Geneva.
Our interest in his broad publications consists in his revolution of the doctrine of rule of law by introducing the concept of responsibility into the legal order.
For further information, please consult:
Diemut Majer: Peter Saladin, in: Staatsrechtslehrer des 20. Jahrhunderts, Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015, pp. 1021 ss.
Selected Works of the Author
Peter Saladin: Grundrechte im Wandel – Die Rechtsprechung des Schweizerischen Bundesgerichts zu den Grundrechten in einer sich ändernden Umwelt. Bern: Stämpfli & Cie. AG, 3. ed. 1982; Idem: Kleinstaaten mit Zukunft? In: Die Kunst der Verfassungsreneuerung, Schriften zur Verfassungsreform 1968-1996, Basel/ Frankfurt am Main: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1998, pp. 361 ss.; Idem: Unerfüllte Bundesverfassung? In: Hundert Jahre Bundesverfassung 1874-1984, Die Bundesverfassung gestern, heute, morgen (Zeitschrift für Schweizerisches Recht, N. S. vol. 93, vol. 3/ 4, pp. 307 ss.), Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1974.