Householders and open letters

Householders and open letters

"I'm aware that some people use household communications or open letters to settle their disputes. Under what conditions does the law allow this?"

François, Troinex

To determine the limits of this type of practice, we need to examine art. 28 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code (CC), which deals with the protection of the personality against unlawful attacks on the personality by conferring on the person who suffers such an attack the possibility of taking legal action against any person who participates in it.

An "unlawful interference" can be defined as an act by a third party as a result of which the personal property of another is disturbed in violation of prohibitions or injunctions of the legal order. For example, the Federal Court has held that a public accusation of high treason constitutes an unlawful infringement of personal interests if it is not true. It should be noted that such an accusation may also constitute defamation or slander and as such be punishable by law. However, an infringement is not unlawful if it is justified by an overriding public or private interest or by the law.

A person who has suffered an unlawful infringement may apply to the court for a rectification or for the judgment to be communicated to third parties or published. Such communication or publication may be ordered even in the absence of fault, where it is necessary in view of the extent and nature of the disturbance, to put an end to the unlawful state of affairs. It should be noted that a media outlet can only be forced to make such a publication if the infringement originated with it. If the infringement was aimed at only a limited number of people, the communication will also be addressed to this limited circle of recipients, which will be done, depending on the circumstances, by means of an individual letter, a circular or a poster.

On the other hand, art. 28g et seq CC provides that anyone whose personality is directly affected by the presentation by the periodical media of facts concerning them has the right to respond, subject to certain conditions. If the media concerned prevents the exercise of this right of reply, refuses to broadcast or fails to do so properly, the person concerned may appeal to a judge.