Are you thinking about studying Staats- en bestuursrecht? Learn more and watch the videos. Please note that this programme is taught in Dutch.

In the Netherlands, anyone who loses their passport or ID card too often can be added to the Passport Alerts Register. As a result, a passport application may be denied or the passport must be surrendered. Rowie Stolk, PhD candidate at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, spoke on…

PhD defence

The Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of Leiden University is active in education in various ways.

Do people actually understand the constitution? This is what Jelle But, PhD candidate at Constitutional and administrative law, wondered. To find out, he conducted a survey among 1333 respondents. His research shows that lawyers and other legal professionals actually do not have a better understanding…

In 2014 Hans-Martien ten Napel received a Research Fellowship in Legal Studies at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, NJ. The book he wrote as a result of this fellowship was published last week by Routledge Law.

Procedural administrative law in a constitutional comparative law perspective

On Wednesday 13 December 2017 Jaap Wieland defended his doctoral thesis entitled ‘De bescherming van concurrentiebelangen in het bestuursrecht’ (the Protection of Competition Interests in Administrative Law).

Below are some of the scholarly works published within the context of the Institutions for Conflict Resolution programme.

Blijven ontwikkelen op academisch niveau is onontkoombaar in een snel veranderende arbeidsmarkt. Wij helpen u graag bij het actueel houden van uw kennis en vaardigheden. Voor een leven lang ontwikkelen moet u in Leiden zijn.

Other COI publications can be found on Leiden Law Blog, the Leiden Law Methods Portal, and in the drop-down tabs below.

Leiden University offers its students a wide range of bachelor's, master's and minors that explore sustainability or climate. Here, you find an overview of those programmes in the academic year 2020-2021.

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,…

How can governments reach their policy goals in the most effective way? Which manner of financing is the most suitable? Does the spirit of our times call for new forms of subsidy? What does the future of subsidy law look like?

Municipalities are increasingly attempting to solve problems without issuing decisions. A notification procedure (notification – investigation – application – decision) has recently been introduced that replaces part of the traditional application procedure. Ymre Schuurmans, Professor of Constitutional…

Currently, the bill ‘Wet versterking waarborgfunctie Awb’ (strengthening the guarantee function of the Dutch General Administrative Law Act) is in preparation. The bill is intended to strengthen the human dimension in the execution and administration of justice.

The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations has awarded the Dutch Administrative Law Association (VAR) a start-up grant for one of the projects of the initiative 'Bestuursrecht beter' (better administrative law): a Digital Helpdesk for the Elderly. The grant will enable the VAR to take the first…

From January to March 2020 Ymre Schuurmans, full professor in Constitutional and Administrative Law at Leiden University, will be a visiting professor at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

Leiden law scholars prof. dr. Luc Verhey and Gert Jan Geertjes have edited a book about constitutional conventions and their added value for Dutch constitutional law. The book is published (in Dutch) by editor Boom in Amsterdam.

Dutch right-wing political party Forum for Democracy has repeatedly demonstrated that it has no lower limit when it comes to morals. Should the courts in the Netherlands protect democracy by banning parties like Forum? Several legal experts from Leiden University commented on this question in newspaper…

Now that the new Dutch government's plans are set out on paper, the chess game begins for cabinet formation leader Richard van Zwol. He has to make the next move and put together the ministerial team. But how do you know if you’ve made the right move with the right chess piece? And who is a suitable…

The organisers of the big protest march against government policy, held on Sunday in Amsterdam, want to bring preliminary relief proceedings against the refusal to allow British conspiracy theorist David Icke to enter the Netherlands. Icke was due to give a speech at the meeting of the organisation…

Politicians in The Hague were in for an unpleasant surprise when the interview with CDA politician, and also current Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister, Wopke Hoekstra was published. Especially Hoekstra’s suggestion to let go of the Government’s target to reduce the amount of nitrogen by 2030 raised some…

On 11 November 2016, The Hague Law Labs and the department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, in collaboration with the Italian Association for European and Comparative Law, will organise ‘The Dutch Constitution Beyond 200: tradition and innovation in a multilevel legal order'.

All sorts of predictions have already been made about the AI system ChatGPT: the programme is going to turn education on its head, make search engines look old-fashioned, and put copywriters out of business. Copywriters? Does that include legislative draftsmen? In other words, can ChatGPT draft legislative…

For Dutch politician Pieter Omtzigt, the PVV’s unconstitutional party manifesto remains a stumbling block to form a coalition. Referring to a study conducted by Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Marc Chavannes sets out the options on Dutch news website De Corresponden…

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…

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 current ban on setting off fireworks in the Netherlands is inadequate. An offender can only be arrested after setting off fireworks in front of enforcers, who can’t respond to loud bangs in the distance. Mayors from municipalities in the province of Gelderland therefore want to impose a ban on the…

Those who seek justice do not always manage to find their way through the legal system. Yet the Dutch Legal Aid Act assumes that citizens are self-reliant and can stand up for their interests in cases that are not legally complex. However, in the childcare benefits affair in the Netherlands, this proved…

Luc Verheij, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law (Kircheiner chair) at Leiden Law School has been appointed as a member of the 'Raad van State', the Dutch Council of State. Verheij was already a State Councillor at the Advisory Division since 2011. He will continue to fulfill this role…

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) is to investigate whether comments made by 'Forum voor Democratie' MP Gideon van Meijeren about going to parliament to protest are punishable. How should the political centre in The Hague respond?

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.

The Dutch Constitution is the second oldest constitution in the world after the US Constitution and it dates back to 1814. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law and author of the book ‘Our Constitution’ published earlier this year, advocates for a more accessible Constitut…

The Municipality of Veere wants to limit accommodation for tourists. However, this puts a number of council members in a dilemma. Are they allowed to debate the future of tourism in the area while being landlords themselves? Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, comments…

Last week, the Dutch Council of Ministers adopted the decision to modernise the process of prosecuting politicians. This action was taken following the Russian bribery scandal involving Dutch politicians. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, discusses this in Dutch daily newspaper ‘NRC’.

By tradition, the moot court competition of the 'Vereniging voor Bestuursrecht' (VAR, Dutch Administrative Law Association) takes place in May every year. This year, it was the honour of Leiden University to organise the event.

The tally now stands at a 19th no-confidence motion in the Rutte IV cabinet, though it is just one year old. All Rutte cabinets combined have faced more no-confidence motions in the past 12 years than the entire parliamentary history before it. The score is 1.5 per month, 87 in total as of 2010 which…

Dutch activist Frank van der Linde has initiated summary proceedings against the extension of the emergency order following the recent disturbances in Amsterdam. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, comments on the case in Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’.

On Thursday evening, three local councillors from the ONS.Vlaardingen party walked out of a council meeting during a vote on a no-confidence motion. One councillor even went home after the vote out of dissatisfaction with the proceedings. The no-confidence motion against Vlaardingen's municipal executive…

Research from Dutch news organisation NOS shows that gambling companies, including Holland Casino and the Dutch Lottery, have more influence on the creation of new rules on gambling adverts than addiction experts.

This year The Netherlands once again chairs the EU Council. In the book ‘Fit for the Future’ Leiden researchers reflect on the priorities that the Dutch presidency has put forward for 2016 and raise the question: is the EU fit for the future?

Two open letters are currently circulating among civil servants in the Netherlands calling for the Dutch government to take a different stance towards Israel. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law in Leiden, says in a national radio broadcast that this is an unusual and unique…

'Bestaanszekerheid' (socio-economic security) is the buzzword in the Netherlands and the magic word in the current election campaign. The King also dropped the word in his Speech from the Throne on Budget Day.

There’s a trend going around within administrative law: submitting court documents late to make things as difficult as possible for the opposing party. As Mr. magazine reports, Tom Barkhuysen, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law and partner in administrative law at Stibbe, argues in the…

Chances that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will become Secretary General of NATO are becoming increasingly likely now that the US and most western countries have expressed their support. The question now is how to appoint someone to the position of Prime Minister, who to appoint and when the situation…

On 22 April the 5th edition of the book Introduction to Dutch Law (edited by Jeroen Chorus, Ewoud Hondius and Wim Voermans) was presented to dr. Geert Corstens, former president of the Dutch Supreme Court.

De uitnodiging staat ter discussie vanwege Bosmans controversiële uitspraken over het slavernijverleden. Bosman is echter in de hoedanigheid van voorzitter van de Tweede Kamer uitgenodigd en niet als PVV’er. Wim Voermans, hoogleraar Staatsrecht, spreekt over dit onderwerp in het Parool.

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…

Following the recent debate on the formation of a new Dutch government, there seems to be no clear definition of an extra parliamentary cabinet. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, discusses this in Dutch magazine ‘Vrij Nederland’ (VN).