Netherlands: IALS Library Guides

Guide last updated by Hester Swift (November 2025)

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy with a civil law legal system. Since 2010, the Kingdom has consisted of four countries: the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and St Maarten (see Caribbean Parts of the Kingdom | Government.nl).

The first Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was adopted in 1814, but the current constitution, or 'Basic Law' (Grondwet), originated with the major constitutional reform of 1983 (Paul Bovend'Eert and Constantijn Kortmann, Constitutional Law in the Netherlands (4th edn, Kluwer Law International 2023) 13).

Another fundamental instrument, the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Statuut voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden), adopted in 1954 governs the relationship between the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and St Maarten. 

In English
HeinOnline's World Constitutions Illustrated has current and historical versions of the Constitution in English and translations of the Charter from 2010 and earlier. 

Paul Bovend'Eert and Constantijn Kortmann, Constitutional Law in the Netherlands (4th edn, Kluwer Law International 2023), held at IALS, includes the Constitution and Charter in English.

The Nederlandse Grondwet website, provided by the Montesquieu Institute and the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, has article-by-article translations of the current Constitution in English (as well as, French, German and Spanish). 

In Dutch
IALS Library has a commentary on the Constitution and Charter, Grondwet en statuut: tekst en commentaar, compiled by Paul Bovend'Eert and others (6th edn, Kluwer 2023). The Constitution and Charter are also included in College bundel 2024-2025 (35th edn, Kluwer 2024), volume II.

Nederlandse Grondwet has all versions of the constitution from 1798 (the Constitution of the Batavian Republic) to the present, with annotations. The site's News section covers pending constitutional amendments.

The Laws (Wetten) section of the government website, Overheid.nl, has current versions of both the Constitution and the Charter, in Dutch. 

In English
IALS Library has an English translation of the Civil Code: Warendorf et al,The Civil Code of the Netherlands (2nd edn, Kluwer 2013).

Translations of a few individual laws are listed in the Netherlands section of the online encyclopedia, Reynolds and Flores, Foreign Law Guide: current sources of codes and basic legislation in jurisdictions of the world.

In Dutch
The official Overheid website has a database including both legislation in force and historical versions of legislation.

IALS Library has College Bundel 2024-2025 (35th edn, Kluwer 2024), a two-volume compilation of codes and laws. We also hold individual codes from Kluwer's Tekst en Commentaar ('Text and Commentary') series, including the following titles:

Burgerlijk Wetboek (Civil Code, including commercial law) (15th edn, Kluwer 2023);

Burgerlijke Rechtsvordering: inclusief Brussel I Bis-Verordening: tekst en commentaar... (Civil Procedure Code) (11th edn, Kluwer 2024);

Strafrecht: de tekst van het wetboek van Strafrecht (Criminal Law) (15th edn, Kluwer 2024);

Strafvordering: de tekst van het wetboek van Strafvordering.(Criminal Procedure) (15th edn, Kluwer 2023);

Algemene Wet Bestuursrecht: tekst en commentaar (General Administrative Law) (12th edn, Kluwer 2021).

Older compilations of Dutch legislation held at IALS include Fruin, De Nederlandse Wetboeken; we have 16 editions of this, 1914 to 2006 (in which year it ceased publication); earlier editions of Fruin are called De Nederlandsche Wetboeken. The library also has older editions of some of the Kluwer Tekst en Commentaar titles and an old multi-volume collection of legislation, Nederlandse Wetgeving, a looseleaf work updated to around 2009. Everything is listed on Library Search, our online catalogue.

Individual statutes, decrees and regulations are first published in the Dutch legislative gazette, Staatsblad van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, which began in 1815; some regulations and similar documents are published in another official gazette, the Staatscourant. The government website, Overheid.nl, has the Staatsblad from January 1995 onwards and the Staatscourant from 2009 onwards (plus selected issues 1995 to 2008). IALS Library holds the Staatsblad from 1931 to 1948 (incomplete).

Nederlands Juristenblad (NJB), 1926 onwards; journal with summaries of recent cases.

SEW: Tijdschrift voor Europees en Economisch Recht, held from 1962 onwards (started in 1952); this journal has summaries and some full reports; the library at KU Leuven provides a digital archive of SEW from 1952 to 2002.

Weekblad voor Privaatrecht, Notariaat en Registratie (WPNR), 1870 onwards; journal with case digests on civil law and conflict of laws.

IALS has the current and previous editions of the multi-volume commentary on civil law, Mr C. Assers Handleiding tot de Beoefening van het Nederlands Burgerlijk Recht. Known as 'Asser-Serie', it is published by Kluwer. 

Oher recent Dutch-language titles held at IALS include:

Tekst en commentaar series: one-volume commentaries on the civil, criminal, procedural and other codes (Kluwer, various dates);

CC van Dam, Aansprakelijkheidsrecht (4th edn, Boom Juridische Uitgevers 2023);

KHM de Roo, Bestuur van Rechtspersonen (Wolters Kluwer 2021).

The library has a large number of English-language titles on Dutch law, including the following recent titles:

MMC van de Moosdijk, Contract Law in the Netherlands (3rd edn, Kluwer 2024).

PPT Bovend'Eert, Constitutional Law of the Netherlands (4th edn, Kluwer 2023);

Larissa Van den Herik et al (eds.), Introduction to Dutch Law (6th edn, Kluwer 2022);

Antoine Jacobs, Labour law in the Netherlands 3rd ed., Kluwer Law International, 2020;

Giuseppe Franco Ferrari et al (eds), The Dutch Constitution beyond 200 years : tradition and innovation in a multilevel legal order (Eleven International 2018).

For other books on the law of the Netherlands, see Library Search.

IALS subscribes to the following Dutch series:

Ars Aequi,1951- ;

Delikt en Delinkwent (formerly Tijdschrift voor Strafrecht), 1960- ;

Nederlands Juristenblad (formerly Nederlandsch Juristenblad) 1926 - ;

Rechtsgeleerd Magazijn Themis, 1882- ;

SEW: Tijdschrift voor Europees en Economisch Recht (formerly Sociaal-Economische Wetgeving), 1962- ;

Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis, 1918- (also available online - see links on IALS Library Search);

Weekblad voor Privaatrecht, Notariaat en Registratie, 1870- .

English-language articles on the law of the Netherlands can be looked up on Westlaw UK and Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals.

Nederlandse Jurisprudentie publishes annual case indexes; the last one received by IALS Library covers 2021.

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals covers several Dutch law journals, including: Ars Aequi, Nederlands Juristenblad, Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Burgerlijk Recht, Ondernemingsrecht, SEW: Tijdschrift voor Europees en Economisch Recht andTijdschrift voor Arbitrage.

Data Juridica (Kluwer) is a Dutch legal bibliography and index to articles from about 100 Dutch law journals. It is now available only online, on the InView Essential platform: IALS does not subscribe to this, but has printed volumes for 1973-1996.

Overheid.nl, the Dutch government website, provides a legislation database and the official gazettes, the Staatsblad and Staatscourant.

Rechtspraak.nl, the website of the Dutch judiciary, has selected judgments from around 2000 onwards (in Dutch) and an English-language guide to the Dutch court system.

A database of Dutch treaties is available Overheid.nl - it has an English interface and the treaties themselves are in various languages.

Arthur Willemse's guide, 'Researching Dutch Law' can be found on New York University's Globalex website.

The University of Amsterdam provides research guides covering Dutch cases, legislation and official publications; the University of Utrecht also has research guides for law; all are in Dutch.