This book is an attempt for the author, William E. Rappard, to recall the most significant events in the constitutional development of his country. Although his analysis is strictly historical, he has proceeded to his task with the curiosity of one who has closely followed the rise and fall of the League of Nations and the emergence of the United Nations. The Swiss cantons formed a very loose confederation bound together only by bilateral and multilateral treaties of collective security. After fifty years of constitutional upheaval, Switzerland in 1848 became the federal state that she has been for the last century.--[from book].