Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland

The Hoge Raad van Holland, Zeeland en West-Friesland (Dutch pronunciation: [ɦoːɣə raːt vɑn ɦɔlɑnt zeːlɑnt ɛn ʋɛst frislɑnt]; usually translated in the literature as "High Court of Holland and Zeeland," though "Supreme Court" may better designate its function, and the literal translation is: "High Council of Holland and Zeeland") was the supreme court of the provinces of Holland and Zeeland in the Dutch Republic in the period 1582-1795. This court is considered a direct predecessor of the current Hoge Raad der Nederlanden (Supreme Court of the Netherlands). It played an important role in the formation of Roman-Dutch law, which still influences law in Southern Africa, through its jurisprudence.

The Great Council of Mechelen was the final Court of Appeal in the Habsburg Netherlands for all provincial High Courts. When, however, the rebellious provinces of Holland and Zeeland became physically separated from this court due to the difficulties for travellers during the military campaigns of the early Eighty Years' War after 1572, the practical lack of a possibility of appeal from sentences of the Hof van Holland (the provincial High Court for both provinces since 1428) was felt as a serious problem. This could only be solved after the Act of Abjuration of 1581 had formalised the deposition of the overlord of the Netherlands, Philip II of Spain. The States-General of the Netherlands decided to replace the Great Council in the provinces of the Union of Utrecht with its own "supra-provincial' court in 1582. But only the States of Holland accepted for the time being such a supreme court, which meant that its jurisdiction remained limited to that province. Only in 1587 did the States of Zeeland accede to the Supreme Court. No other provinces joined them. The court was dissolved together with the other institutions of the Dutch Republic after the Batavian Republic overthrew the old Republic in 1795.

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