Government Liability in Austria, Germany and Switzerland

This chapter intends to shed lights on commonalities and distinctive features of public authority liability in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. In the first part, background commonalities and background distinctive traits are illustrated, together with the relevant Constitutional provisions. In the second part, a comparative analysis is carried out considering the answers given in the three Countries. In particular, the chapter is focused on three kind of administrative action that can cause damages, i.e. authoritative decisions such as sanctions, the withdrawal of a former benefit, and a physical act. In the third part, the comparative analysis is carried out on cross-cut issues, considering institutional choices. The analysis shows that the outcome may well differ, considering not only the conditions for recognizing damages and their amount, but also for the primacy of alternative remedies, i.e. annulment.