Burgerlijk Wetboek

The Burgerlijk Wetboek (or BW) is the Civil Code of the Netherlands. Early versions were largely based on the Napoleonic Code. The Dutch Civil Code was substantively reformed in 1992. The Code deals with the rights of natural persons (Book 1), legal persons (Book 2), patrimony (Book 3) and succession (Book 4). It also sets out the law of property (e.g., ownership, possession, and security interests) (Book 5), obligations and contracts (Books 6-7), and conflict of laws (Book 10). Proposed amendments will add a Book on intellectual property. The codification of laws is still being used in Indonesia as a pinnacle of the private laws besides Sharia law and custom laws. The laws initially applied only to Dutch settlers and foreign traders such as Chinese traders, Indian traders and Arab traders during the Dutch colonial era in Dutch East Indies, but after the independence of Indonesia in 1945, the government decided to retain the old Dutch law, expanded in use to indigenous people and Moslems voluntarily. The 1992 reformed version does not apply in Indonesia.

Before efforts at unification, almost every region and borough in the Netherlands had its own law. Local Roman-Dutch law borrowed heavily from the civilian ius commune, particularly with respect to the law of obligations and in the practice of written codes. However, no universal written code existed before the 19th century. Many attempts at codification were short-lived, not helped by constantly changing governments and political conditions. In 1531, Charles V, the Spanish ruler of the Netherlands, ordered the codification of existing laws with a view towards uniformity. However, the Eighty Years War and the end of Spanish rule in the Netherlands interrupted such plans. Some two centuries later, another attempt was made in 1801 under the new Batavian Republic. In 1804, a written code was partially drafted but never enacted. On 24 May 1806 the Netherlands became a French client state styled the Kingdom of Holland under Napoleon's brother, Louis Bonaparte. The King was instructed by Napoleon to receive and enact the Napoleonic Code. A committee was formed and, drawing heavily from the Napoleonic Code and some previous work, a code—called the Wetboek Napoleon, ingerigt voor het Koningrijk Holland—was enacted by royal decree on 1 May 1809. Roman-Dutch law was abolished except where specifically retained by the Code and in the Dutch colonies. However the 1809 enactment was short-lived. On 1 January 1811, the Netherlands was annexed by the French Empire and the Napoleonic Code was adopted in unmodified form. Dutch independence was restored with the collapse of French rule in 1813. The Kingdom once again pursued codification. Article 100 of the 1814 Constitution refers to a codification based on Dutch law. Various proposals were made between 1816 and 1830. Finally in 1830 a new code was enacted by Parliament. It was a mix of influences—mainly French and Roman-Dutch. This code was adopted as the Burgerlijk Wetboek of 1838.

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