Does Switzerland use jury trials?

Limited use / mixed courts

Only Geneva Canton has genuine jury trials, others use mixed judge-jury courts, but unified code may eliminate them.

Switzerland is one of 16 countries classified “Limited use / mixed courts” for jury trials — 55% of the 29 with data.

Source

Taken from
Wikipedia: Jury trial
Last checked
7 July 2026
How it was classified
Classified by a language model from the source text, then checked against hand-verified reference countries.

Nearby countries

France
Limited use / mixed courts Jury trials in France are limited to felonies, with the cour d'assises having 6-9 jurors deciding conviction.
Austria
Limited use / mixed courts Austria uses jury trials in serious criminal cases, similar to other European civil law jurisdictions.
Germany
Not used Jury trials were abolished in 1924; serious cases are heard by mixed panels of professional and lay judges.
Belgium
Limited use / mixed courts Belgium uses jury trials through the Court of Assize for serious criminal cases and political crimes.
Italy
Limited use / mixed courts Italy uses a court system with laypersons for serious crimes like murder, not general jury trials.
Hungary
Limited use / mixed courts Hungary uses a mixed court system with lay judges for specific cases rather than traditional jury trials.

Other laws in Switzerland

Death Penalty
Fully abolished
Gun Laws
Licensed / moderate
Military Conscription
Active conscription

Every law in Switzerland → · Which countries use jury trials? →

A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.