NETHERLANDS LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Friederike Henke, Ingrid Cools, Philip ter Burg, IJsbrand Uljée, Suzan van de Kam and Epke Spijkerman, BUREN
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1. Legal System 1.1 Legal System and Judicial Order Like in many other EU countries, the legal system of the Netherlands is a civil law system. While legislation is the primary source of law, prec - edents developed in case law play an important role, as do the principles of reasonableness and fairness. In addition to its own domestic legal system, the legal framework of the EU applies in the Netherlands. Judicial System for Civil and Criminal Cases Eleven district courts ( rechtbanken ) deal with civil and criminal cases, and there are four courts of appeal ( gerechtshoven ). For civil and criminal cases, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands ( Hoge Raad der Nederlanden ) is the highest instance, but it can overturn judgments of the courts of appeal on limited and specific legal grounds only, without reviewing the facts of a case. Ranking high in The World Bank’s Rule of Law Index, the Dutch legal system is considered one of the most efficient civil law systems in the world. On average, legal proceedings in the
Netherlands take 130 days. Urgent matters may be heard in summary proceedings, in which judgments are rendered in a timeframe of a few weeks or even a few days. For certain areas of law, the Netherlands has established courts with specific expertise. The following courts are most relevant in an interna - tional business law context: • the Netherlands Commercial Court, which allows parties to litigate in the English lan - guage entirely (from writ of summons to court hearing to judgment) in any international com - mercial dispute; • the Enterprise Court ( Ondernemingskamer ) of the Amsterdam court of appeal, which has exclusive jurisdiction over certain matters relating to corporate law; • the Maritime Court of the Rotterdam district court, which allows parties to litigate partly in English; and • a chamber of the district court of The Hague, specialised in intellectual property law, which allows parties to litigate partly in English.
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