e-Court - Costs Intro

The essence of e-Court lies in the fact you will not be confronted with any surprises. Hence we will give you all relevant information upfront. Please click on the links on your left and read the details described.

In contrast to the relative low total e-Court costs, expenditures resulting from litigation in a traditional court can reach exorbitant high levels and may leave the plaintiff still out of pocket even though the case is decided in the plaintiff's favour. It is a tough business and financial decision committing to litigation in traditional courts, even when based on legal advice from several experienced professionals. Their advice may not always be consistent and will rarely allow a sober reality check as to the potential range of costs, and risks. To illustrate the potentially high litigation costs in a traditional court view LEGAL FEES, EXPENSES, etc

The most important Act of Dutch civil law is undoubtedly the Civil Code (DCC), largely revised in 1992. It methodically deals with the core areas of national private law and is for this purpose classified in ten different Books:

Book 1 - Persons and Family Law

Book 2 - Property Law in General
Book 3 - Property Law in General
Book 4 - Succession (Inheritance)
Book 5 - Real Property Rights
Book 6 - Obligations and Contracts
Book 7 - Particular Contracts (revised)
Book 7a - Particular Contracts (unrevised)*
Book 8 - Transport Law
Book 9 - Intellectual Property**)
Book 10 - Private International Law

*) Book 7a contains statutory provisons of the old Dutch Civil Code (in force prior to 1992) that have to be converted still.

**) Book 9 is reserved for the law on intellectual property rights. If, or when, it will be included in the Dutch Civil Code, remains uncertain. A reference is made on this website to translations in English of the various Dutch Acts on intellectual property rights (click on 'Civil Code' and, subsequently, on 'Book 9' in the left frame).

Besides the Civil Code, there are other noteworthy Acts, like the Code of Commerce, the Bankruptcy Act, the Financial Supervision Act and the Competition Act. Many Orders in Council and Decrees give more detailed provisions for specific subjects regulated in the Dutch Civil Code and other Acts.

The body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits, is to be found in the Code of Civil Procedure. With regard to questions of national and, when no European Regulation or Convention is applicable, of international jurisdiction, Book 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides several basic rules.

Very useful is the 'Dutch Treaty Data Base' run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On this website you'll find, in English, all Treaties (Conventions) to which the Netherlands are a party, and up-to-date information about the content of these Treaties, other participating States and additional declarations.

Within a continental law system, like that of the Netherlands, there is a body of written law, issued by Parliament, such as codes and statute law, that must be applied by judges to each individual case. The assumption is that statute law regulates all cases that could occur in practice, and when certain cases are not regulated by statute law, the courts should, in order to fill up the gap, apply the general principles on which a comparable statutory provision of the Civil Code is founded.

The way how Dutch courts approach the law is different from that in Anglo-Amercian law systems. In continental law systems this approach is methodological and systematic, not only in creating new law, but also in solving individual cases. The rules of law have a general impact and are issued to regulate all kinds of potential situations. Because of this, continental law countries are able to catch the significant rules in a central code, whereas the judge-made law of Anglo-American systems is so divers and crumbled that it’s impossible to write it all down in a logical and systematic book. In continental law countries, legislation is seen as the primary source of law. That’s why judges tend to look for solutions that will fit in the system of the law, taking into account the intention of the legislator for passing this rule, as expressed in the Parliamentary history of this specific law. This means that judges, when a certain subject isn’t regulated directly by statute law, will search for the general principle behind the law and, if possible, fill up the legal gap in analogy with that principle. So the influence of the act or statute is widened. By contrast, in a common law system, cases are the primary source of law, and statutes are seen as a specific correction of it,. Consequently, the statute has to be interpreted narrowly.