Netherlands

Legal tradition

Netherlands belongs to the civil law tradition. A civil-law system whose Burgerlijk Wetboek was comprehensively recodified from 1992 onwards, making it one of the most modern private-law codes in Europe. Its defining constitutional peculiarity is that courts may not review Acts of Parliament against the Constitution, yet must disapply them when they conflict with directly effective treaty law — so human-rights arguments in the Netherlands are made under the ECHR rather than the Constitution.

How power is divided

A decentralised unitary state rather than a federation: twelve provinces and the municipalities hold delegated autonomy, not sovereign competence. The Kingdom also includes Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten as autonomous countries, with Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius as special municipalities.

Where law comes from

Constitution (Grondwet)

Binding on the legislature, but not enforceable against statute by the courts.

Treaties and EU law

Directly effective provisions prevail over national statute under Article 94.

Statutes (wetten)

Enacted jointly by the government and the States General.

Codes

The recodified Burgerlijk Wetboek, Wetboek van Strafrecht and procedural codes.

Delegated legislation

Royal decrees, ministerial regulations, provincial and municipal by-laws.

Case law

No formal stare decisis, but Hoge Raad rulings are followed consistently.

The legal profession

Advocaten are admitted to the bar (Nederlandse orde van advocaten) after a law degree and a three-year traineeship with the professional course. Representation by an advocaat is compulsory before most courts but not before the kantonrechter. Notaries and bailiffs (deurwaarders) are separate regulated professions.