ABSTRACT
The first constituent assemblies in Swiss cantons were convened in the 1830s. More than 50 per cent of the over 100 total revisions of cantonal constitutions that have been conducted successfully so far have been brought about by such assemblies. In Europe, the institution of the constituent assembly (CA) emerged for the first time in revolutionary France of the 1790s. The first and most distinct wave of constitution-making coincided with the liberal phase of the regeneration in the 1830s. In the Swiss cantons the people have played a fundamental role in the constitution-making processes since 1830. Accordingly, the nature of the CAs corresponded to a greater extent to the American model. During the 1850s, several cantons were still adapting their constitutions to federal law. In general, the elections to the CAs were carried out in the same way as the general elections to legislative bodies.
