A judge, ordinary or assistant, cannot sit when his relatives of blood, or by marriage in an ascending or descending line, or collaterals up to and including cousin-german or brother-in-law, are in any way interested in the case. A judge is similarly disqualified from sitting, when the affairs of his wards are under consideration, or in a case in which he has taken any part personally as federal or cantonal official, or judge, or arbitrator, or counsel; or in affairs relating to an incorporated company of which he is a member; or when his Commune or Canton of birth is a party; or when a suit is brought against the executive or legislature of his Canton of birth. A judge of either kind, ordinary or alternate, may be objected to by a party to a suit, if the said judge is an enemy of or dependent on one of the parties; or since the institution of the suit, as a member of the court, has expressed his opinion on it; but the Federal Court as a whole must be accepted by the parties. If by reason of such objections there are not enough members to form a quorum, the chairman selects by lot from among the presidents of the Supreme Cantonal Courts a sufficient number of “extraordinary assistant judges,” _pro hac vice_. The act designates three thousand francs as the minimum amount for “degree of importance” to give jurisdiction in cases where a money value must be fixed by federal legislation. All members and officials of the court must be bound by oath to fulfil the duties of their respective offices; the oath to be administered to the judges in the presence of the Federal Assembly. This oath may be taken by a “_Handgelübde_,” or raising of the hand, in the case of persons objecting on conscientious grounds to take an oath. The court is to sit and give judgment in public; this does not apply to the juries or to preliminary inquiries. The president settles the order of business and maintains order in court; being empowered to imprison disobedient persons for twenty-four hours; and in extreme cases to fine up to a hundred francs and to imprison up to twenty days. Every year the court must submit an account of the business transacted by it to the Federal Assembly, which has a right to criticise any act of the court, but can alter only by a federal law any of its decisions of which it may disapprove. The officials of the court have the right of transacting in any Canton, without asking leave of the cantonal authorities, all business which falls within their jurisdiction. Each judge is permitted to deliver opinions in his own dialect. Another federal law regulates with great detail the costs of the court, which are defrayed out of the federal treasury, and likewise the fees which are to be paid by parties to the suits. In the exercise of the criminal jurisdiction the court goes on a circuit. For this purpose the Confederation is divided into five assize districts. One of these districts embraces French Switzerland; a second, Bern and