Aurélien Witzig

Dr. Aurélien Witzig is a Lecturer at the Universities of Geneva and Neuchâtel. He specializes in the law of obligations.
After focusing initially on Employment Law, Dr. Aurélien Witzig is now broadening his scope of research to cover contract and tort law topics. His current research projects involve issues such as the legal challenges raised by technological developments (such as digitization, artificial intelligence, etc.).
Dr. Aurélien Witzig has produced several books, chapters, articles and commentaries in his fields of research, ranging from substantive law projects (most notably his book on labor law entitled Droit du travail) to research into fundamental legal questions (including an effort to understand the underlying roots of employment law, property law, and the law of obligations). He also teaches Rhetoric at the Faculty of Law.
In addition to teaching and writing, Dr. Aurélien Witzig regularly advises private companies and public authorities. He also collaborates with courts.

List of publication

A party acting as a representative once, may not be a representative twice.

In the absence of a validly conferred power of attorney, the principal shall only be bound if the third party can rely on its own legitimate representation of the situation.

Contract for the chairman of a listed company: how to manage a conflict of interests?

A stock corporation whose board of directors is reduced to two members due to a dispute among shareholders cannot validly enter into a contract of mandate (director) and employment (manager) with the chairman of the board without violating the prohibition of self-contracting.

No matter what… it’s art!

The duty to inform on a specific feature of an artwork exists only if a seller should assume that this feature might influence the decision of a buyer to conclude a contract or even the conditions under which a contract is concluded.

Home renovations with a limited budget? Watch out for the quotes and the bills!

A homeowner who entrusts home renovations to an architect must clearly indicate if he wants a binding cost limit. Otherwise, the architect will only be liable for exceeding the cost estimate if the estimate was flawed or exceeded more than 10%.

Bona fides in negotiating: how disingenuous can one be?

Swiss law provides for a special basis of liability for conduct contrary to the rules of good faith in the context of pre-contractual negotiations. The more unreasonable the position adopted by a negotiating party, the more difficult it is for that party to successfully claim that the other party who broke off the negotiation is liable.