The Faculty of Law has five institutes:

Professor Christa Tobler and Jacques Beglinger have written two new publications.

Conference

The public sector is increasingly a multi-level system, with interactions between public and private actors on the national, sub-national (provinces, regions) and international level and various public, semi-public and private organisations that perform public tasks. In this minor students pay attention…

Is private law ready for the challenges of our time?

In the past years access to EU law has been significantly enhanced via services such as EUR-Lex. This development not only allows for easy retrieval of individual legal acts, but for collecting information about the evolution of EU law in the aggregate as well.

We are very happy to welcome you to Leiden Law School to spend a semester or year studying with us. Here you can find information on course registration, schedules and more.

Dutch provinces must finalise their plans this summer to meet the government's targets on nitrogen emissions. Can the outcome of the provincial elections this week still change nitrogen policy? The NOS spoke about this issue with various parties including Rogier Kegge, assistant professor in administrative…

As a Faculty of Law graduate you are part of a valuable network. Discover how you can remain in contact with other alumni and the University!

Amy Strecker assesses the institutional framework for landscape protection, analyses the interplay between landscape and human rights, and links the etymology and theory of landscape with its articulation in law.

Willemien den Ouden, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law and Academic Director of the Institute of Public Law has been appointed State Councillor at the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State in the Netherlands.

The Faculty of Law

To what extent does the Law Ombudsperson for Children achieve its goals as intended by the legislator when introducing the law?

On 2 December, Roel Becker and Joyce Esser, both PhD candidates at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, gave a lecture for their colleagues and the students of Res Publica, the master’s association Constitutional and Administrative Law. In the lecture, they paid attention to the…

Esmée Driessen presented and defended her preliminary report ‘De dienstbare overheid bij het faciliteren van burgerinitiatieven’ (service-minded government and facilitating citizens’ initiatives) during the Young VAR (Young Administrative Law Association) on Friday 18 November.

On 21 March, the Rode Hoed in Amsterdam hosted a debate evening on the data ‘hunger’ of the distrustful government, partly in response to publications by Dutch newspaper NRC on the undercover investigation into mosque attendance at the behest of the NCTV (National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and…

We would all like to live in a world in which individuals feel safe, conflicts are resolved peacefully and the interests of future generations are taken into consideration. At Leiden University legal scholars investigate to what extent public international law meets the needs of a globalised society.…

The Council of State in the Netherlands has drawn up a programme of reflection to evaluate the role of the highest administrative court in the child benefits scandal and to learn lessons for the future.

European labour law has an unmistakable influence on national law. This applies even more to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), as it has implications for the application of European law in the Member States and with it the interpretation of national law. Collected Cases…

Ymre Schuurmans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, has been appointed Chair of the Dutch Legal Aid Board’s Advisory Council following permission from the Dutch Minister for Legal Protection.

While acknowledging prominent legal-philosophical debates, this project proposes a radically different approach to provide insights into the concept of the rule of law.

Esteban Szmulewic , PhD candidate at the Constitutional and Administrative Law Department has written a paper on the comparison between Italy and the Netherlands, covering the first part of the pandemic (2020 and early 2021). The article has been published in the prestigious 'Journal Diritto Publico…

Szmulewicz, a PhD candidate at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, has written an article on intergovernmental relations (IGR) from a multidisciplinary perspective, considering law in the text and law-in-action, while analysing paradigmatic cases as well as comparative perspecti…

In August 2018, the fourth edition of the teaching and learning materials

During the opening of the Faculty year on 5 September 2023, Barend Barentsen, Professor of Labour Law, and Annemarie Drahmann, Associate Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, were presented with the JSVO Teaching Awards 22-23.

Whether implicitly or explicitly, we all have ideas about how the law is supposed to function, whose interests it should represent, and what role it should play in society. This project explores the ways in which these questions are addressed in the works of the Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus…

On 18 January, Esteban Szmulewicz, a PhD candidate at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, spoke on the following theme at an online seminar: 'Comments on the International IDEA report: the state of democracy in the world and the Americas in 2023. New checks and balances'.

Legal frameworks are often a pitfall when it comes to citizens’ initiatives. Esmee Driessen, a guest lecturer at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law and an expert in citizen participation, conducted research on the support and facilitation of citizens' initiatives. In a Dutch journal…

On 1 December 2023, Fatma Çapkurt was appointed as deputy chair of the State Committee on the Rule of Law.

The proposal made by the Dutch Benefits Agency (part of the Ministry of Finance) to issue one-off compensation payments of €5,000 in the wake of the Dutch childcare benefits scandal is causing a stir among the affected parents, lawyers and academics. Ymre Schuurmans, Professor of Administrative Law,…

In the aftermath of the childcare benefits affair in the Netherlands, the treatment of citizens by public authorities is more often a subject of discussion. This also applies to the period within which citizens can lodge an objection to a government decision.

Study information, Master Student for a Day

Ever since the coronavirus crisis began, people have been arguing about the legal justification for measures. The problem: far-reaching measures such as an obligation to wear face masks, get tested, or school closures violate the Constitution. The Cabinet had the difficult task of weighing fundamental…

Today, the Dutch Advisory Board on public access and government information (ACOI) issued its opinion on how the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) makes documents on Covid policy accessible to the public.

More and more countries have decided to introduce compulsory vaccination. According to various experts, compulsory vaccination, under certain conditions, could help the situation in the Netherlands.

Louis Honée, a student assistant for the Thorbecke chair and the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, is one of the new European Universities Debating Champions. Together with his team partner, he beat around 150 teams in the English as a Second Language category.

The Salzburg Global Seminar is an independent non-profit organisation founded in 1947 with a mission to challenge current and future leaders to shape a better world. It has had multiple programmes over time. Esteban Szmuleiwicz participated as a Fellow on the programme titled Health and Economic Well-being:…

Esteban Szmulewicz, a PhD candidate at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, spoke at the annual Salzburg Global Weekend, organised by the Salzburg Global Seminar with the theme 'Democracy on the Front Lines'. Key speakers included Nobel Peace Laureate the Ukrainian Civil Rights defender…

The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management is refusing to release documents on the safety of Schiphol Airport, despite a court ruling that they must be made public. The case has been running for four years and was brought by current affairs programme EenVandaag.

At the request of outgoing minister Stef Blok, the Province of Groningen wrote a letter to support the minister in his rejection of two amendments by the Dutch House of Representatives.

For some time now, discussions have been held within the legal profession in the Netherlands about strengthening supervision in the sector and the establishment of a national supervisory authority ('landelijke toezichtautoriteit', LTA). Tom Barkhuysen, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative…

What was the practice of keeping the Necropolis Journal?

The Research Handbook on Labour, Business and Human Rights Law edited by prof. Janice Bellace of the University of Pennsylvania and ass. prof. Beryl ter Haar of Leiden University. The book is publisehd in Edward Elgars series on Human Rights.

The introduction of a compulsory coronavirus entry pass in the workplace is currently being considered behind the scenes. Dutch Minister of Health Hugo de Jonge spoke about this at the press conference on Tuesday 2 November. But such a measure is not without problems.

On 1 September, the conference of the Kirchheiner Chair ‘Government and citizens: A matter of trust’ took place. In a packed hall in the beautiful Old Observatory of Leiden University, under the inspiring leadership of Willemien den Ouden, a debate was held on the role of the Dutch National Ombudsman,…

Door onduidelijke stikstofregels komen milieuzaken steeds vaker voor de rechter. De zaak van een Reeuwijkse varkenshouder leidt al tientallen jaren lang tot een getouwtrek tussen een milieuorganisatie, de provincie en de rechter. Rogier Kegge, universitair docent Staats- en bestuursrecht, bespreekt…

The notary is involved in various occasions during lifetime.

Company Law provides education and research in the field of commercial and corporate law, insolvency law and International Business Law.