Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations - New York ...

The highest court is the Supreme Court of the Netherlands (Hoge Raad), which deals
with matters of criminal law, tax law, and private law. The Supreme Court is also divided in
three chambers, composed of three or five judges (except in cases against government officials,
transgressions by MPs, ministers, constitutional committees and provincial governors, in which
there are ten judges). The administrative law system consists of several supreme courts: the
Afdeling bestuursrechtspraak, which is part of the Raad van State and has jurisdiction primarily
over planning law and environmental law; the Centrale Raad van Beroep, which deals primarily
with matters related to social security and civil servants; and the College van beroep voor het
bedrijfsleven, which deals with trade and economic administrative law matters.
The most important form of local government are the municipalities (gemeenten). There
are approximately 670 municipalities, which are run by a directly elected council that varies in
size from seven to forty-five members depending on population.
Internet Resources:
122
Access to all government sites:
http://www.overheid.nl
Parliament:
http://www.parlement.nl
First Chamber:
http://www.eerstekamer.nl
II. CITATION GUIDE
Second Chamber
http://www.tweede-kamer.nl
Council of State:
http://www.raadvanstate.nl
Judicial system
http://www.rechtspraak.nl
In the Netherlands there are no official legal citation rules. The Leidraad voor juridische auteurs
is often used by legal scholars and is considered to be an important guideline for legal citations,
although it is not complete.
1.0 Constitution
For a number of reasons, the Dutch Constitution (officially entitled Grondwet voor het
Koninkrijk der Nederlanden van 24 augustus 1815, Stb. 45, zoals deze wet laatstelijk laatstelijk
is gewijzigd bij de Wet van 25 februari 1999, Stb. 133, 134 en 135) does not play an important
role in lawmaking in the Netherlands. Cite, when necessary, to the shortened name (De
Grondwet), or the abbreviation (Gw).
2.0 Legislation
2.1 Statutes
Statutes are published in the official law gazette, the Staatsblad (abbreviated Stb.). Cite statutes
by title, “Stb.” (italicized), and year and number of the relevant Staatsblad:
Wet van 28 maart 1996, Stb. 1996, 320.
Wet op de Telecommunicatievoorzieningen, Stb. 1988, 520.