Case law
Rechtspraak.nl
Rechtspraak.nl is the public case-law database of the Dutch judiciary, online since December 1999. What goes into it is not arbitrary: it is governed by the Decision on selection criteria for the Rechtspraak.nl case-law database, adopted by the Council for the Judiciary, the Supreme Court, the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State and the boards of the district courts, courts of appeal, the Central Appeals Tribunal and the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal. Alongside rulings, the judiciary publishes the advisory opinions of the Procurator General and Advocates General, plus its own regulations and procedural rules.
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What this source does not give you
The judiciary does not publish every judgment and order. For the highest courts the rule is that everything is published in principle, but for district courts and courts of appeal a positive selection applies: outside the mandatory categories, rulings are published as far as possible. The absence of a ruling from the database therefore says nothing about whether it exists or how weighty it is. Everything published is also pseudonymised under the judiciary's pseudonymisation guideline.
Frequently asked questions
- Are all Dutch rulings on rechtspraak.nl?
- No. The selection decision distinguishes between courts. Every ruling of the Supreme Court, the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State, the Central Appeals Tribunal, the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal, the Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, the intellectual-property section of the civil division of the Hague District Court and the agricultural tenancy chamber of the Arnhem Court of Appeal is published, unless the case was declared manifestly unfounded or manifestly inadmissible or disposed of in standard wording. For district courts and courts of appeal, rulings outside the mandatory categories are published as far as possible.
- Which rulings are published regardless?
- Among others: all rulings in which a preliminary reference was made and the follow-up rulings; rulings in which reliance on the ECHR, the ICCPR, the Convention on the Rights of the Child or an ILO convention was upheld or rejected other than in standard wording; criminal cases in which the charge is based in part on a sexual offence; cases carrying an unconditional prison sentence of four years or more or a TBS order; all rulings on the recusal of judges; and rulings where an earlier or later instance in the same proceedings has already been published. Publication also follows from media attention, discussion in a professional legal medium, particular importance to a profession, or a law-developing character.
- Why are there no names in the rulings?
- The decision requires every published ruling to be pseudonymised under the judiciary's pseudonymisation guideline. The 2024 revision replaced the term anonymising with pseudonymising. Data capable of revealing the identity of natural or legal persons is therefore removed before a ruling goes online.
- How quickly does a ruling appear online?
- Rulings attracting media attention are published on the day of delivery under the judiciary's press guideline. For other rulings the target is one month. A ruling you cannot find today may still appear within a few weeks.
- Are the Advocate General's opinions published as well?
- Yes. Since the revision of the decision, every opinion of the Procurator General and the Advocates General at the Supreme Court is published, as is every opinion of the Advocates General at the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State and at the Central Appeals Tribunal and the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal.