An Overview of the Civil Procedure and Court System of Netherlands

Abstract

When it comes to Dutch law, the initiation of civil litigation, there are just a few cases in the Netherlands. This is due to the harmonized Dutch culture. Therefore, compared to other European countries, the number of lawyers and judges per capita in the Netherlands is small. In this scientific paper, we will make an overview of the civil judicial organization, the types of civil proceedings, the obligation to represent the civil cases in the court through a lawyer, legal aid and also in more detail we will focus on the main stages of the civil trial as well as the conditions that must be met before initiating civil proceedings. We will analyze in detail the fact that in the Dutch Law, the defendant may deny the right to judicial reconciliation with the plaintiff, before initiating the proceedings and that it is also preferable in Dutch Law, that the opposing party is summoned to fulfill its obligations within a certain period. If without respecting this method, the court procedure is initiated, the court costs may be attributed to the initiator of the procedure, i.e the plaintiff. Except for proceedings before judges from subordinate regions in Dutch law, the general rule is that the proceedings must be presided over by the plaintiff's attorney (procurator litis) and by a lawyer selected from the list of attorneys registered with the Association. In this scientific paper, we will also pay special attention to the temporary legal protection and special procedures and we will also focus on the judgments and legal remedies in Dutch law.