ABSTRACT
If we leave the formulae of Constitutions and examine the practical results of the referendum in the Confederation and the cantons, we shall make statements which will astonish those who have not seen at close quarters how the institution works. It might be expected that the referendum would make for a pitiless slaughter of the laws which were subjected to it, but this would be a mistake. Although the people knows how to say no, although on more than one occasion it has chagrined Swiss legislators, it also knows how to say yes, and the number of laws and decrees which have fallen victims to the referendum is far smaller than the number of legislative proposals to which the electoral body has given its approval.
