Key legal question
Whether the Federal Court had jurisdiction to hear the claim for recognition of the children's communal citizenship / home right.
Extracted holding
The Federal Court lacked jurisdiction because no interstate commune citizenship dispute existed and any matter of statelessness required the statutory administrative procedure, after which the Federal Council would sue.
Extracted reasoning
Art. 110 BV and Art. 27 no. 4 OG apply only to citizenship disputes between communes of different cantons. A private person cannot invoke that head of jurisdiction. In statelessness matters, jurisdiction arises only under the federal act of 3 December 1850 and only after the prescribed administrative procedure and a claim by the Federal Council.