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Netherlands

Researching the Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law, Holland

Constitution

The constitution of the Netherlands can be found in:

Statutes

The Law Library does not own current versions of the law of the Netherlands in Dutch. New laws and administrative orders are published in the official gazette,Staatsblad voor het Koninkrijk;Nederlanden (Staatsblad). This gazette is available on the web:

Codes

New laws are then incorporated into one of the following codes:

  • Burgerlijk Wetboek (civil code) 
  • Wetboek van Koophandel (commercial code) (being recodified into the civil code)
  • Wetboek van Burgerlijke Rechtsvordering (civil procedure code) 
  • Wetboek van Strafvordering (criminal procedure code) 
  • Wetboek van Strafrecht (criminal code).

A somewhat dated compilation of these codes, with commentary, is: 

Cases

For a brief introduction to the judicial system of the Netherlands, see:

Cases from the Supreme Court (Hooge Raad) are published in the Nederlandse Jurisprudentie​.  Cases from other courts can be found in legal periodicals including Nederlands Juristenblad.

For English summaries of Dutch Supreme Court rulings, see:

Treaties

Treaties are published in the Tractatenblad van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden (Tractatenblad). This publication is available on the web:

English Translations of Dutch Statutes and Codes

Below are selected secondary sources available at the Law Library that contain English translations of statutes and codes.

For tax and commercial laws, see RIA Worldwide Tax and Commercial Law, available on:


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