A discussion of the constitutional system of the Netherlands requires a preliminary definition of what exactly is meant by ‘the Netherlands’. In its popular use, the Netherlands is a state in Western Europe, north of Belgium, west of Germany, along the coast of the North Sea. Its present-day constitution dates back to 1814/1815, when after the defeat of France in the Napoleonic Wars an independent state in the lowlands was re-established. Strictly speaking, however, the Kingdom of the Netherlands of today is in fact a quasi-federal construct between these Netherlands proper, i.e. the country in Europe, and three other constituent countries, namely Aruba, Curacao and Saint Martin in the Caribbean. The Kingdom as an overarching federal entity was created by the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the so-called Statuut, an instrument adopted and ratified by the constituent countries in 1954. It redefined the Kingdom as having several component parts – originally three, since 2010 four – the Netherlands no longer being the colonial motherland but being notionally co-equal to its former dependencies. Only the islands of Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba, the so-called BES islands, which used to belong to the Netherlands Antilles, were converted into decentralized public entities of the Netherlands proper in 2010. Thus, the constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is the Charter for the Kingdom; the Dutch Constitution of 1815, called Grondwet, today is ‘merely’ the constitution of the Netherlands proper: the Kingdom’s European part including the BES islands.
Download the full pdf: constitutions prepared
Author(s): Aalt W. Heringa & Philipp Kiiver
