1.
Holland
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Holland is a region and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. The name Holland is also used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th century, Holland proper was a political region within the Holy Roman Empire as a county ruled by the Counts of Holland. By the 17th century, Holland had risen to become a maritime and economic power, the name Holland first appeared in sources in 866 for the region around Haarlem, and by 1064 was being used as the name of the entire county. By this time, the inhabitants of Holland were referring to themselves as Hollanders, Holland is derived from the Middle Dutch term holtland. This spelling variation remained in use until around the 14th century, a popular folk etymology holds that Holland is derived from hol land and was inspired by the low-lying geography of Holland. The proper name of the area in both Dutch and English is Holland, Holland is a part of the Netherlands. Holland is informally used in English and other languages, including sometimes the Dutch language itself, the people of Holland are referred to as Hollanders in both Dutch and English. Today this refers specifically to people from the current provinces of North Holland, strictly speaking, the term Hollanders does not refer to people from the other provinces in the Netherlands, but colloquially Hollanders is sometimes used in this wider sense. In Dutch, the Dutch word Hollands is the form for Holland. In English, Dutch refers to the Netherlands as a whole, the word Hollandish is no longer in common use. Hollandic is the name give to the dialect spoken in Holland, and is occasionally also used by historians. Initially, Holland was a corner of the Holy Roman Empire. Gradually, its importance increased until it began to have a decisive. Until the start of the 12th century, the inhabitants of the area that became Holland were known as Frisians, the area was initially part of Frisia. At the end of the 9th century, West-Frisia became a county in the Holy Roman Empire. The first Count known about with certainty was Dirk I, who ruled from 896 to 931 and he was succeeded by a long line of counts in the House of Holland. When John I, count of Holland, died childless in 1299, by the time of William V the count of Holland was also the count of Hainaut and Zealand
2.
Zeeland
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Zeeland is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and peninsulas and its area is about 2,930 square kilometres, of which almost 1,140 square kilometres is water, and it has a population of about 380,000. Large parts of Zeeland are below sea level, the last great flooding of the area was in 1953. Tourism is an important economic activity, in the summer, its beaches make it a popular destination for tourists, especially German tourists. In some areas, the population can be two to four times higher during the summer season. The coat of arms of Zeeland shows a lion half-emerged from water, the country of New Zealand is named after Zeeland - not Zealand in Denmark, as sometimes claimed. Nehalennia is a goddess of the ancient religion known around the province of Zeeland and her worship dates back at least to the 2nd century BC, and flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. She was possibly a goddess, either Celtic or pre-Germanic – sources differ on the culture that first worshipped her. During the Roman Era, her main function appeared to be the protection of travelers, most of what is known about her comes from the remains of over 160 carved stone offerings which have been dredged up from the Eastern Scheldt since 1970. Two more Nehalennia offering stones have also found in Cologne. Zeeland was an area between the counts of Holland and Flanders until 1299, when the last count of Holland died. Followed by the counts of Bavaria, Burgundy and Habsburg, after 1585 Zeeland followed, as one of the 7 independent provinces, the fate of the Northern part of The Netherlands. In 1432 it became part of the Low Countries possessions of Philip the Good of Burgundy, through marriage, the Seventeen Provinces became the property of the Habsburgs in 1477. In the Eighty Years War, Zeeland was on the side of the Union of Utrecht, the area now called Zeeuws-Vlaanderen was not part of Zeeland, but a part of the county of Flanders that was conquered by the United Provinces, hence called Staats-Vlaanderen. After the French occupation and the formation of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, during World War II, Zeeland was occupied by Nazi Germany between June 1940 and November 1944. In 1944, Zeeland was devastated by the Battle of the Scheldt, the catastrophic North Sea flood of 1953, which killed over 1800 people in Zeeland, led to the construction of the protective Delta Works. The province of Zeeland is a river delta situated at the mouth of several major rivers, namely Scheldt, Rhine. Most of the province lies below sea level and was reclaimed from the sea by inhabitants over time, what used to be a muddy landscape, flooding at high tide and reappearing at low tide, became a series of small man-made hills that stayed dry at all times
3.
Dutch Republic
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It preceded the Batavian Republic, the Kingdom of Holland, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and ultimately the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands. Alternative names include the United Provinces, Seven Provinces, Federated Dutch Provinces, most of the Low Countries had come under the rule of the House of Burgundy and subsequently the House of Habsburg. In 1549 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V issued the Pragmatic Sanction, Charles was succeeded by his son, King Philip II of Spain. This was the start of the Eighty Years War, in 1579 a number of the northern provinces of the Low Countries signed the Union of Utrecht, in which they promised to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army. This was followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration, the declaration of independence of the provinces from Philip II. In 1582 the United Provinces invited Francis, Duke of Anjou to lead them, but after an attempt to take Antwerp in 1583. After the assassination of William of Orange, both Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England declined the offer of sovereignty, however, the latter agreed to turn the United Provinces into a protectorate of England, and sent the Earl of Leicester as governor-general. This was unsuccessful and in 1588 the provinces became a confederacy, the Union of Utrecht is regarded as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which was not recognized by the Spanish Empire until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. During the Anglo-French war, the territory was divided into groups, the Patriots, who were pro-French and pro-American and the Orangists. The Republic of the United Provinces faced a series of revolutions in 1783–1787. During this period, republican forces occupied several major Dutch cities, initially on the defence, the Orangist forces received aid from Prussian troops and retook the Netherlands in 1787. After the French Republic became the French Empire under Napoleon, the Batavian Republic was replaced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland, the Netherlands regained independence from France in 1813. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 the names United Provinces of the Netherlands, on 16 March 1815, the son of stadtholder William V crowned himself King William I of the Netherlands. Between 1815 and 1890 the King of the Netherlands was also in a union the Grand Duke of the sovereign Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. After Belgium gained its independence in 1830, the state became known as the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The County of Holland was the wealthiest and most urbanized region in the world, the free trade spirit of the time received a strong augmentation through the development of a modern, effective stock market in the Low Countries. The Netherlands has the oldest stock exchange in the world, founded in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company, while Rotterdam has the oldest bourse in the Netherlands, the worlds first stock exchange, that of the Dutch East-India Company, went public in six different cities. Later, a court ruled that the company had to reside legally in a city so Amsterdam is recognized as the oldest such institution based on modern trading principles
4.
Supreme Court of the Netherlands
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The Supreme Court of the Netherlands is one of the highest courts of the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Aruba. The Court was established on 1 October 1838 and sits in The Hague, the Court has exclusive final jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters. The Court is a court of cassation, which means that it has the competence to quash or affirm rulings of lower courts and it only considers whether the lower courts applied the law correctly and the rulings have sufficient reasoning. In so doing it establishes case law, according to Article 120 of the Constitution, courts may not rule on the constitutionality of laws passed by the States General and treaties. With the exception of constitutional Court of Sint Maarten courts have no competence for judicial review with respect to the Constitution. The Supreme Court currently consists of 36 judges, a president,6 vice-presidents,25 justices and 4 justices in exceptional service, all judges are appointed for life, until they retire at their own request or mandatorily at the age of 70. The development of cassation in the Netherlands was heavily influenced by the French during the Batavian Revolution at the end of 18th century, in the Netherlands a case is first heard by one of the ten district courts. Afterwards, either side may appeal to one of the four courts of appeal, finally, either party may file a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court. Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by decree, chosen from a list of three, advised by the House of Representatives on the advice of the Court itself. The justices are, like every other judge in the Netherlands, appointed for life, upon reaching the age of 60, a justice may change status to exceptional service, with the effect that the justice no longer plays a full role at the Court. The Supreme Court is divided into four chambers, the first or civil chamber, the second or criminal chamber, the third or tax chamber, the members of the fourth chamber are chosen ad hoc, but will include the President of the Court. As of January 2016, the first three chambers are composed as follows, During the German occupation, the Supreme Court kept functioning, in November 1940 the occupiers forced the president, Judge L. E. Visser, to resign because he was Jewish. The members who remained also signed a declaration about Aryans. After the liberation, people reproached the Court for a weak, the Court wished above all to guarantee the continuity of its jurisdiction and not to become involved in politics. However such chances as there were to take a stand on principle against the Germans were largely missed, the Justices either omitted to give a moral example or felt they were not in a position to do so. In this the Supreme Court followed the advice of the barrister-general A. Rombach, the judgment concerned a case in which a man was sentenced by the economic judge for an economic offence. The counsel for the accused, P, when the Supreme Court denied the possibility of contesting rules issued by the German government, the Netherlands followed what was the rule in Germany and Italy too. On the basis of two emergency measures Hitler had the authority to issue incontestable rules, and the legal establishment acknowledged not it was not allowed to challenge political measures, political in this case was what the political authorities considered to be political
5.
Case law
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Case law is the set of existing rulings which made new interpretations of law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents. In other countries, such as most European countries, the term is applied to any set of rulings on law which is guided by previous rulings, for example, patent office case law. Trials and hearings which are not selected as courts of first impression do not have rulings that become law, therefore. The legal systems of the Nordic countries are included among the civil law systems, but as a separate branch. In Sweden, for instance, case law plays a more important role than in some of the Continental civil law systems. The two highest courts, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court, have the right to set precedent which is in practice binding on all future application of the law. Courts of appeal, both courts and administrative courts may also issue decisions that act as guides for the application of the law. In the common law tradition, courts decide the law applicable to a case by interpreting statutes and applying precedents which record how, normally, the burden rests with litigants to appeal rulings to the higher courts. If a judge acts against precedent and the case is not appealed, the decision will stand. A lower court may not rule against a binding precedent, even if it feels that it is unjust and this may happen several times as the case works its way through successive appeals. High Trees House Ltd K. B.130, the different roles of case law in civil and common law traditions create differences in the way that courts render decisions. By contrast, decisions in civil law jurisdictions are generally very short, some pluralist systems, such as Scots law in Scotland and so-called civil law jurisdictions in Quebec and Louisiana, do not precisely fit into the dual common-civil law system classifications. Such systems may have heavily influenced by the Anglo-American common law tradition, however. Because of their position between the two systems of law, these types of legal systems are sometimes referred to as mixed systems of law. Law professors in common law traditions play a smaller role in developing case law than professors in civil law traditions. Historically, common law courts relied little on legal scholarship, thus, at the turn of the twentieth century, thus common law systems are adopting one of the approaches long common in civil law jurisdictions. Judges may refer to types of persuasive authority to reach a decision in a case. Widely cited non-binding sources include legal encyclopedias such as Corpus Juris Secundum and Halsburys Laws of England, some bodies are given statutory powers to issue Guidance with persuasive authority or similar statutory effect, such as the Highway Code
6.
Great Council of Mechelen
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From the 15th century onwards, the Great Council of the Netherlands at Mechelen was the highest court in the Burgundian Netherlands. It was responsible for the Dutch-, French- and German-speaking areas, in Luxembourgish the phrase mir ginn op Mechelen still means playing ones last trump card. The Grote Raad first sat in the Schepenhuis in Mechelen then, from 1616, the medieval rulers were assisted by advisers. Together with the ruler they formed the Council of State, also called the consilium or curia, gradually the council became more specialised, with separate financial, judicial and political council emerging. In the Burgundian Netherlands, the councils initially travelled with the Duke, in 1473 Duke Charles the Bold decided to establish the council in a specific location, in Mechelen. The council took on the name of the Parliament of Mechelen, after Charles death in 1477, this parliament was abolished again by Charles daughter Mary of Burgundy on the occasion of the issuing of the Great Privilege. This was the result of the constant struggle between the centralisation of the rulers and the particularism of the states, the French king was also against a parliament in Mechelen, as it would become a rival of the Parliament of Paris. Nonetheless, under Philip the Fair, the Great Council was again established in Mechelen in 1504, this time permanently, in the 16th century the territorial powers of the Great council grew. Through the establishment of authority by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor over Tournai, Utrecht, Friesland, Overijssel and Guelders, in 1526 the construction of a new Seat for the Great Council started by the architect and Master Mason Rombout II Keldermans. This Brabantine Gothic project was abandoned in 1547 —with little more than the floor built. The council was losing power and influence, after the Eighty Years War, the Dutch Republic became independent. In the Northern Netherlands, the power was taken over by the provincial council. The Great Council of Mechelen remained active in the remaining Southern Netherlands, of which France annexed the province of Artois and parts of Flanders, Hainaut. This left the Great Council only Flanders, Mechelen, Namur, the Great Council was abolished during the French Revolution. During the first French invasion in 1792, the Council moved to Roermond, where it watched over the last unoccupied lands, the composition of the Great Council was noticeably stable throughout the centuries. Of the councillors, who wore red vestments, traditionally four were clerical, all councillors were appointed by the ruler from a list of candidates of the Council itself. They had to be licentiate or doctor in law at one of the universities in the rulers lands, the following people were council members, Jan I Carondelet Jan II Carondelet Nicolaas Everaerts, president. Jeroen van Busleyden Jean Alphonse, 1st Count de Coloma Viglius Christinaeus, filips Wielant Jean Thadee de Grouff Jean Joseph de Vreven Corneel Janssens Hujoel Claude Ignace de Febure Auguste de Steenhault François Alexander de Steenhault
7.
Habsburg Netherlands
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Habsburg Netherlands is the collective name of Holy Roman Empire fiefs in the Low Countries held by the House of Habsburg and later by the Spanish Empire, also known as the Spanish Netherlands. Then known as Seventeen Provinces, they were held by the Spanish Empire from 1556, in 1581, the Seven United Provinces seceded to form the Dutch Republic, the remaining Spanish Southern Netherlands eventually passed on to Habsburg Austria. Finally the Austrian Netherlands were annexed by the French First Republic in 1795, the Habsburg Netherlands was a geo-political entity covering the whole of the Low Countries from 1482 to 1581. The centre of the Burgundian possessions was the Duchy of Brabant, deeply disappointed, he entered into the disastrous Burgundian Wars and was killed in the Battle of Nancy. Upon the death of Mary of Burgundy in 1482, her possessions including the Burgundian Netherlands passed to her son. Through his father Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor from 1493, Philip was a Habsburg scion, the period 1481–1492 saw the Flemish cities revolt and Utrecht embroiled in civil war, but by the turn of the century both areas had been pacified by the Spanish rulers. Philips son Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, born in Ghent, succeeded his father in 1506 and his grandfather Emperor Maximilian I incorporated the Burgundian heritage into the Burgundian Circle, whereafter the territories in the far west of the Empire developed a certain grade of autonomy. Attaining full age in 1515, Charles went on to rule his Burgundian heritage as a native Netherlander and he acquired the lands of Overijssel and the Bishopric of Utrecht, purchased Friesland from Duke George of Saxony and regained Groningen and Gelderland. His Seventeen Provinces were re-organised in the 1548 Burgundian Treaty, whereby the Imperial estates represented in the Imperial Diet at Augsburg acknowledged a certain autonomy of the Netherlands. It was followed by a sanction by the Emperor the next year. By a 1522 inheritance treaty with his younger brother Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria, Emperor Charles V had established the Austrian, upon his abdication in 1556, the Seventeen Provinces fell to the Spanish Crown. Charless son and successor King Philip II of Spain by his despotism and Catholic persecutions sparked the Dutch Revolt, the Spanish hold on the northern provinces was more and more tenuous. In 1579 the northern provinces established the Protestant Union of Utrecht, after the secession of 1581, the southern provinces, called t Hof van Brabant remained with the House of Habsburg until the French Revolutionary Wars. After the extinction of the Spanish Habsburgs and the War of the Spanish Succession, the southern provinces were also known as the Austrian Netherlands from 1715 onwards
8.
Eighty Years' War
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The Eighty Years War or Dutch War of Independence was a revolt of the Seventeen Provinces against the political and religious hegemony of Philip II of Spain, the sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands. After the initial stages, Philip II deployed his armies and regained control over most of the rebelling provinces, under the leadership of the exiled William the Silent, the northern provinces continued their resistance. They eventually were able to oust the Habsburg armies, and in 1581 they established the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, after a 12-year truce, hostilities broke out again around 1619 which can be said to coincide with the Thirty Years War. An end was reached in 1648 with the Peace of Münster, in the decades preceding the war, the Dutch became increasingly discontented with Habsburg rule. A major cause of discontent was heavy taxation imposed on the population, while support. At that time, the Seventeen Provinces were known in the empire as De landen van herwaarts over, the presence of Spanish troops, under the command of the Duke of Alba, brought in to oversee order, further amplified this unrest. Spain also attempted a policy of religious uniformity for the Catholic Church within its domains. The Reformation meanwhile produced a number of Protestant denominations, which gained followers in the Seventeen Provinces and these included the Lutheran movement of Martin Luther, the Anabaptist movement of the Dutch reformer Menno Simons, and the Reformed teachings of John Calvin. This growth lead to the 1566 Beeldenstorm, the Iconoclastic Fury which saw many churches in northern Europe stripped of their Catholic statuary, in October 1555, Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire began the gradual abdication of his several crowns. The balance of power was heavily weighted toward the local and regional governments, Philip did not govern in person but appointed Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy as governor-general to lead the central government. When Philip left for Spain in 1559 political tension was increased by religious policies, not having the liberal-mindedness of his father Charles V, Philip was a fervent enemy of the Protestant movements of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the Anabaptists. Towards the end of Charles reign enforcement had become lax. Philip, however, insisted on rigorous enforcement, which caused widespread unrest, the new hierarchy was to be headed by Granvelle as archbishop of the new archdiocese of Mechelen. The reform was unpopular with the old church hierarchy, as the new dioceses were to be financed by the transfer of a number of rich abbeys. Granvelle became the focus of the opposition against the new governmental structures, after the recall of Granvelle, Orange persuaded Margaret and the Council to ask for a moderation of the placards against heresy. Philip delayed his response, and in this interval the opposition to his religious policies gained more widespread support, Philip finally rejected the request for moderation in his Letters from the Segovia Woods of October 1565. This Compromise of Nobles was supported by about 400 nobles, both Catholic and Protestant, and was presented to Margaret on 5 April 1566, impressed by the massive support for the compromise, she suspended the placards, awaiting Philips final ruling. The first half of the Eighty Years War between the Spanish Empire and the Dutch Republic was fought between 1566 and 1609, when the Twelve Years Truce was signed in 1609, ending this first phase of war, the northern Netherlands had achieved de facto independence
9.
Hof van Holland
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It should not be confused with the Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland which was the supreme court, founded in 1582 by the States-General of the Netherlands and intended for the entire Dutch Republic. The Hof was constituted by Duke Philip the Good, in his capacity of new Count of Holland and Zeeland on 3 July 1428 as his High Council to govern the counties, at first the Council combined executive and judicial functions. In the period around 1445 the judicial tasks were more and more concentrated in a chamber of nine councillors. This was first formalised by the Instructie of 1462, given by Philips son Charles of Charolais, such Instructions were again drawn up in 1480,1522 and 1531. The Habsburg Netherlands had since the 1470s always had the Great Council of Mechelen as their Supreme Court and this meant that the Hof and the Hoge Raad in practice competed with one another as appellate courts due to a vague delineation of the jurisdictions and competences of the two courts. With the new constitution of 1801 the province of Zeeland got its own Hof van Justitie, when the Kingdom of Holland was annexed to the French Empire in 1810 all such provincial Courts of Justice were abolished as of January 1,1811. But the Hof was only dissolved on 1 March 1811 with the inauguration of the new Imperial Court for the Departements that took the place of the province of Holland, furthermore, foreigners without a fixed abode in Holland fell into this category. As to subject matter for the jurisdiction of the court, all matters of concern to the Count, like his feudal Fees and domains, his rights. Furthermore, important land-use cases, and conflicts between local governments fell under its jurisdiction, as did legal actions in connection with Possession, the Hof therefore continued hearing cases that formally belonged to the Hoge Raad which caused some competition between the two courts. Only in 1660 did the States of Holland resolve that in possession cases each court had to inform the other of such cases to make some coordination possible, the procedure in most cases was the so-called rolprocedure. A case was initiated by a petition for a mandement van dagvaarding by an impetrant. This was executed by a deurwaarder to summon the gedaagde to appear on a date at the audience. These were followed by further written pleadings, conclusie van antwoord, conclusie van repliek and these four pleadings could be augmented by other documents of all kinds after special petitions from the parties had obtained leave to do this. At a certain point there were no documents to exchange and parties would enter a final pleidooi. If the parties contradicted each other on the facts the court could order an enqueste before a commissaris, in such a hearing the parties and witnesses would be interrogated under oath. Finally, the case would be summed up in the rapport by another councillor, the court decided by majority vote. In case the vote was a draw the complaint was rejected, the final verdict was read at an audience and the written verdict with the opinion on which it was based were handed to the triumfant party. Besides the rolprocedure the Hof also used a number of procedures, like the summary procedure
10.
Act of Abjuration
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The Act of Abjuration, was the declaration of independence by many of the provinces of the Netherlands from Spain in 1581, during the Dutch Revolt. Signed on 26 July 1581 in The Hague, the Act formally confirmed a decision made by the States General of the Netherlands in Antwerp four days earlier. It declared that all magistrates in the making up the Union of Utrecht were freed from their oaths of allegiance to the King of Spain. The grounds given were that Philip II had failed in his obligations to his subjects, by oppressing them, Philip was therefore considered to have forfeited his thrones as ruler of each of the provinces which signed the Act. The Act of Abjuration allowed the newly-independent territories to govern themselves, when this failed, they formed the Dutch Republic, the predecessor of the modern state of the Netherlands. They were constituted as an entity with his Pragmatic Sanction of 1549. His son, King Philip II of Spain, inherited these provinces on Charles abdication in 1555, but this actually meant that he assumed the feudal title of each individual province, as Duke of Brabant, Count of Holland etc. In the Dutch Revolt, from 1568 several of these provinces rose in rebellion against Philip and this pretense was wearing thin, however, by the time of the Pacification of Ghent in 1576. Matthias was young and inexperienced, and brought no resources of his own to the battle with Philip, each union formed its own Estates General. William the Silent, the leader of the Dutch Revolt, therefore decided that the rebellious Netherlands should look for an overlord who could bring useful foreign allies, francis, Duke of Anjou, the younger brother and heir-presumptive of King Henry III of France, was such a man. He did not wish to be someone elses viceroy, especially not of the Habsburg king, the rebel States General therefore offered him the sovereignty of the Netherlands, which he accepted by the Treaty of Plessis-les-Tours. Meanwhile, Matthias was bought off with a generous annuity and this, however, presented a problem, the magistrates of the cities and rural areas, and the provincial states themselves, had sworn allegiance to Philip. Oaths of allegiance were taken seriously during this era. As long as the conflict with Philip could be glossed over these magistrates could pretend to remain loyal to the king and this referred not to desertion of Philip by his subjects, but rather, to a suggested desertion of the Dutch flock by their malevolent shepherd, Philip. The Act prohibited the use of the name and seal of Philip in all legal matters and it gave authority to the Councils of the provinces to henceforth issue the commissions of magistrates. The actual draft seems to have been written by an audiencier of the States General, the Act was remarkable for its extensive Preamble, which took the form of an ideological justification, phrased as an indictment of King Philip. The Preamble was based on Vindiciae contra tyrannos by Philippe de Mornay, the rebels, in their appeal to public opinion, may have thought it more important to quote authoritative sources and refer to ancient rights they wished to defend. By deposing a ruler for having violated the Social Contract with his subjects, in the declaration, these provinces are mentioned, the Duchies of Brabant and Guelders, the Counties of Flanders, Holland and Zeeland, and the Lordships of Frisia, Mechelen and Utrecht
11.
Philip II of Spain
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Philip II of Spain, called the Prudent, was King of Spain, King of Portugal, King of Naples and Sicily, and jure uxoris King of England and Ireland. He was also Duke of Milan, from 1555, he was lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands. Known in Spain as Felipe el Prudente, his empire included territories on every continent then known to Europeans, during his reign, Spain reached the height of its influence and power. This is sometimes called the Golden Age, the expression, the empire on which the sun never sets, was coined during Philips time to reflect the extent of his dominion. During Philips reign there were separate state bankruptcies in 1557,1560,1569,1575 and this was partly the cause of the declaration of independence that created the Dutch Republic in 1581. The Ambassador went on to say He dresses very tastefully, the culture and courtly life of Spain were an important influence in his early life. He was tutored by Juan Martínez Siliceo, the future Archbishop of Toledo, Philip displayed reasonable aptitude in arms and letters alike. Later he would study with more illustrious tutors, including the humanist Juan Cristóbal Calvete de Estrella, though Philip had good command over Latin, Spanish, and Portuguese, he never managed to equal his father, Charles V, as a polyglot. While Philip was also a German archduke of the House of Habsburg, Philip felt himself to be culturally Spanish, he had been born in Spain and raised in the Castilian court, his native tongue was Spanish, and he preferred to live in Spain. This would ultimately impede his succession to the imperial throne, in April 1528, when Philip was eleven months old, he received the oath of allegiance as heir to the crown from the Cortes of Castile. Philip was also close to his two sisters, María and Juana, and to his two pages, the Portuguese nobleman Rui Gomes da Silva and Luis de Requesens, the son of his governor Juan de Zúñiga. These men would serve Philip throughout their lives, as would Antonio Pérez, Philips martial training was undertaken by his governor, Juan de Zúñiga, a Castilian nobleman who served as the commendador mayor of Castile. The practical lessons in warfare were overseen by the Duke of Alba during the Italian Wars, Philip was present at the Siege of Perpignan in 1542 but did not see action as the Spanish army under Alba decisively defeated the besieging French forces under the Dauphin of France. On his way back to Castile, Philip received the oath of allegiance of the Aragonese Cortes at Monzón. The king-emperors interactions with his son during his stay in Spain convinced him of Philips precocity in statesmanship, Philip, who had previously been made the Duke of Milan in 1540, began governing the most extensive empire in the world at the young age of sixteen. Charles left Philip with experienced advisors—notably the secretary Francisco de los Cobos, Philip was also left with extensive written instructions that emphasised piety, patience, modesty, and distrust. These principles of Charles were gradually assimilated by his son, who would grow up to become grave, self-possessed, personally, Philip spoke softly and had an icy self-mastery, in the words of one of his ministers, he had a smile that cut like a sword. After living in the Netherlands in the years of his reign
12.
States General of the Netherlands
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The States General is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets at the Binnenhof in The Hague, the States General originated in the 15th century as an assembly of all the provincial states of the Burgundian Netherlands. The States General were replaced by the National Assembly after the Batavian Revolution of 1795, only to be restored in 1814, the States General was divided into a Senate and a House of Representatives in 1815, with the establishment of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. On exceptional occasions, the two form a joint session known as the United Assembly. The President of the Senate serves as President of the States General during a United Assembly, ankie Broekers-Knol has been President of the Senate since 2013. The archaic Dutch word staten originally related to the classes in which medieval European societies were stratified, the clergy, the nobility. The word eventually came to mean the political body in which the estates were represented. Each province in the Habsburg Netherlands had its own staten and these representative bodies in turn were represented in the assembly that came to be known as Staten-Generaal, or Algemene Staten. The English word states may have a meaning as the Dutch word staten. The English phrases States General is probably a translation of the Dutch word. Historically, the term was used for the name of other national legislatures as, for example, the Catalan and Valencian Generalitat. Several geographic place names are derived from the States General, in 1609, Henry Hudson established Dutch trade in Staten Island, New York City and named the island Staaten Eylandt after the States General. Isla de los Estados, now an Argentine island, was named after this institution. Abel Tasman originally gave the name Staten Landt to what would become New Zealand, Staaten River is a river in the Cape York Peninsula, Australia. Later, regular sessions were held at Coudenberg in Brussels, Brabant, the next important event was the convocation of the States General by the ducal Council for 3 February 1477 after the death of Charles the Bold. In this session the States General forced the grant of the Great Privilege by Mary of Burgundy in which the right of the States General to convene on their own initiative was recognised, in 1576 the States General as a whole, however, openly rebelled against the Spanish crown. In 1579 the States General split as a number of provinces, united in the Union of Arras returned to obedience, while other provinces. After the Act of Abjuration in 1581 the northern States General replaced Philip II as the authority of the northern Netherlands
13.
Union of Utrecht
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The Union of Utrecht was a treaty signed on 23 January 1579 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, unifying the northern provinces of the Netherlands, until then under the control of Habsburg Spain. The Union of Utrecht is regarded as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, the treaty was signed on 23 January by Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and the province of Groningen. The treaty was a reaction of the Protestant provinces to the 1579 Union of Arras, during the following months of 1579, other states signed the treaty as well, such as Ghent, cities from Friesland, as well as three of the quarters of Guelders. In the summer of 1579, Amersfoort from the province of Utrecht also joined, together with Ypres, Antwerp, Breda, in February 1580, Lier, Bruges and the surrounding area also signed the Union. The city of Groningen shifted in favor under influence of the stadtholder for Friesland, George van Rennenberg, later on, Zutphen also signed so Guelders supported the Union completely. This happened in April 1580, as did the signing of Overijssel, the United Provinces still recognized Spanish rule after the Union of Utrecht. The Twelve Years Truce of 1609 essentially marked the end of the Dutch struggle for independence and a pause in one of historys longest running conflicts, as Pieter Geyl puts it, the truce marked an astonishing victory for the Dutch. They gave up no land and did not agree to halt their attacks on Spanish colonies, in return the Spanish granted the United Provinces de facto independence by describing them as Free lands, provinces and states against who they make no claim for the duration of the truce. Dutch Revolt List of treaties Geyl, Pieter, the revolt of the Netherlands, 1555-1609. The Union of Utrecht online pp 137-48 Text of Treaty in English translation
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States of Holland and West Friesland
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The States of Holland and West Frisia were the representation of the two Estates to the court of the Count of Holland. After the United Provinces were formed — and there no longer was a count, more powerful cities were allowed to send more representatives — Amsterdam had a delegation of four — but these then together had only one vote. All members of the States were appointed officials, including the Lands Advocate or Grand Pensionary, the Lands Advocate or Grand Pensionary was nearly always a previous pensionary of a city. Very important matters, such as taxation, had to be decided on unanimously but normally decisions were made by majority. He had literally both the first — as representing the nobility vote — and the last say in a meeting, since the death of Johan van Oldebarnevelt any Prince of Orange also being stadtholder indirectly had much power over the States. He had the right to appoint the mayors of all cities, mayors of cities with city rights chose the officials who served as representatives in the States of Holland. The States of Holland were disbanded during the reforms by the Batavian Republic, the States of Holland should not be confused with the States-General, or Staten-Generaal, the confederate government of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands as a whole. Each of the Netherlands had its own States and Holland was just one of seven, nevertheless this province was so dominant that a politician controlling the States of Holland by being Lands Advocate of Holland or Grand Pensionary, in fact controlled the Republic. Johan de Witt is a case in point, and Johan van Oldebarnevelt another famous example, first mentioned in 1428, the States of Holland continued to exist until 1795 when the Batavian Republic was established under French rule
15.
Jurisdiction
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Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a legal body to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility, e. g. Michigan tax law. In federations like the U. S. areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, colloquially it is used to refer to the geographical area to which such authority applies, e. g. the court has jurisdiction over all of Colorado. The legal term refers only to the authority, not to a geographical area. International laws and treaties provide agreements which nations agree to be bound to, supranational organizations provide mechanisms whereby disputes between nations may be resolved through arbitration or mediation. When a country is recognized as de jure, it is an acknowledgment by the de jure nations that the country has sovereignty. However, it is often at the discretion of each nation whether to co-operate or participate, if a nation does agree to participate in activities of the supranational bodies and accept decisions, the nation is giving up its sovereign authority and thereby allocating power to these bodies. The fact that organizations, courts and tribunals have been created raises the difficult question of how to co-ordinate their activities with those of national courts. But, to invoke the jurisdiction in any case, all the parties have to accept the prospective judgment as binding. This reduces the risk of wasting the Courts time, each such group may form transnational institutions with declared legislative or judicial powers. For example, in Europe, the European Court of Justice has been given jurisdiction as the appellate court to the member states on issues of European law. This jurisdiction is entrenched and its authority could only be denied by a member if that member nation asserts its sovereignty. Hence, in the Netherlands, all treaties and the orders of international organizations are effective without any action being required to convert international into municipal law, in nations adopting this theory, the local courts automatically accept jurisdiction to adjudicate on lawsuits relying on international law principles. Otherwise the courts have a discretion to apply international law where it does not conflict with statute or the common law. According to the Supreme Court of the United States, the treaty power authorizes Congress to legislate under the Necessary and this concerns the relationships both between courts in different jurisdictions, and between courts within the same jurisdiction. The usual legal doctrine under which questions of jurisdiction are decided is termed forum non conveniens, to deal with the issue of forum shopping, nations are urged to adopt more positive rules on conflict of laws. In addition, the Lugano Convention binds the European Union and the European Free Trade Association, council Regulation 44/2001 now also applies as between the rest of the EU Member States and Denmark due to an agreement reached between the European Community and Denmark. In some legal areas, at least, the CACA enforcement of judgments is now more straightforward. At a national level, the rules still determine jurisdiction over persons who are not domiciled or habitually resident in the European Union or the Lugano area
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States of Zeeland
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The States of Zeeland are the States-Provincial for the Dutch province of Zeeland. It forms the body of the province. Its 39 seats are distributed every four years in provincial elections, since 2013, it has been chaired by Han Polman. During the rule of Charles V, the States of Zeeland was made up of prelates from the area and these cities were Middelburg, Zierikzee, Goes, Reimerswaal and Tholen. Its executive board was known as the Gecommitteerde Raden, from 1578, these, the Zeeuwse Admiraliteitscollege and other regional representatives oversaw the Admiralty of Zeeland. Since the 2015 provincial elections, the seats of the States of Zeeland are as following, States of Holland and West Friesland Provincial politics in the Netherlands Official website
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Batavian Republic
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The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795, and ended on 5 June 1806, in early 1795, intervention by French revolutionary forces led to the downfall of the old Dutch Republic. The new Republic enjoyed widespread support from the Dutch population and was the product of a popular revolution. Nevertheless, it clearly was founded with the support of the revolutionary French Republic. The political, economic and social reforms that were brought about during the short duration of the Batavian Republic have had a lasting impact. The confederal structure of the old Dutch Republic was permanently replaced by a unitary state, for the first time in Dutch history, the constitution that was adopted in 1798 had a genuinely democratic character. For a while the Republic was governed democratically, although the coup détat of 1801 put an authoritarian regime in power, after another change in constitution, nevertheless, the memory of this brief experiment with democracy helped smooth the transition to a more democratic government in 1848. A type of government was introduced for the first time in Dutch history. The new king, Louis Bonaparte, surprisingly did not slavishly follow French dictates either, the final days of the intermittent constitutional monarchy/republic, the Dutch Republic, which had governed the Netherlands since the late 16th century, were quite eventful. Most Patriots went into exile in France, while Hollands own Ancien Régime strengthened its grip on Dutch government chiefly through the Orangist Grand Pensionary Laurens Pieter van de Spiegel. Only two years later, the French Revolution began, which embraced many of the ideas that the Patriots had espoused in their own revolt. The Stadtholder joined the ill-fated First Coalition of countries in their attempt to subdue the suddenly anti-Austrian French First Republic, however, in many cities revolution broke out even before the French arrived and Revolutionary Committees took over the city governments, and the national government also. William was forced to flee to England on a boat on 18 January 1795. Though the French presented themselves as liberators, they behaved like conquerors, apart from imposing territorial concessions and a huge indemnity, this obligated the Dutch to maintain a French army of occupation of 25,000 men. However, this did not mean that it lost its independence in all respects, the program of reform that the Dutch revolutionaries attempted to put in place was mostly driven by indigenous needs and aspirations. The political events in the Netherlands were mainly derived from Dutch initiative, the French were responsible for at least one of the coups détat, and the French ambassador often acted as a proconsul. At first, the revolutionaries used the constitutional machinery of the old confederal republic and they resumed where they had left off after the purge in 1787 of Patriot regents, taking over the offices of the Orangist regents that were now purged in their turn. Though the political make-up of the States-General changed appreciably because of change in personnel
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William the Silent
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He was born in the House of Nassau as Count of Nassau-Dillenburg. He became Prince of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the founder of the branch House of Orange-Nassau, a wealthy nobleman, William originally served the Habsburgs as a member of the court of Margaret of Parma, governor of the Spanish Netherlands. The most influential and politically capable of the rebels, he led the Dutch to several successes in the fight against the Spanish, declared an outlaw by the Spanish king in 1580, he was assassinated by Balthasar Gérard in Delft in 1584. William was born on 24 April 1533 at Dillenburg castle then in the County of Nassau-Dillenburg and he was the eldest son of William, Count of Nassau by his second wife Juliana of Stolberg-Werningerode. Williams father had one surviving daughter by his previous marriage, and his parents had twelve children together, of whom William was the eldest, he had four younger brothers and seven younger sisters. The family was devout and William was raised a Lutheran. In 1544, Williams agnatic first cousin, René of Châlon, Prince of Orange, in his testament, René of Chalon named William the heir to all his estates and titles, including that of Prince of Orange, on the condition that he receive a Roman Catholic education. Williams father acquiesced to this condition on behalf of his 11-year-old son, besides the principality of Orange and significant lands in Germany, William also inherited vast estates in the Low Countries from his cousin. Because of his age, Emperor Charles V, who was the overlord of most of these estates. In Brussels, he was taught foreign languages and received a military and diplomatic education under the direction of Champagney, on 6 July 1551, William married Anna van Egmond en Buren, daughter and heiress of Maximiliaan van Egmond, an important Dutch nobleman. Annas father had died in 1548, and therefore William became Lord of Egmond, the marriage was a happy one and produced three children, one of whom died in infancy. Anna died on 24 March 1558, leaving William much grieved, being a ward of Charles V and having received his education under the tutelage of the Emperors sister, William came under the particular attention of the imperial family, and became a favorite. He was appointed captain in the cavalry in 1551 and received rapid promotion thereafter and this was in 1555, when Charles V sent him to Bayonne with an army to take the city in a siege from the French. William was also made a member of the Raad van State, in 1559, Phillip appointed William stadtholder of the provinces of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht, thereby greatly increasing his political power. A stadtholdership over Franche-Comté followed in 1561, William was also dissatisfied with the increasing persecution of Protestants in the Netherlands. Brought up as a Lutheran and later a Catholic, William was very religious but was still a proponent of freedom of religion for all people, lastly, the opposition wished to see an end to the presence of Spanish troops. On 25 August 1561, William of Orange married for the second time, in early 1565, a large group of lesser noblemen, including Williams younger brother Louis, formed the Confederacy of Noblemen. On 5 April, they offered a petition to Margaret of Parma, from August to October 1566, a wave of iconoclasm spread through the Low Countries
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Ordonnance
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Under the French Government, an ordonnance is a statutory instrument issued by the Council of Ministers in an area of law normally reserved for primary legislation enacted by the French Parliament. In the French justice system, the word can refer to a summary ruling made by a single judge for simple cases. Article 34 of the Constitution of France restricts certain legal matters to primary legislation to be enacted by Parliament, all other areas of law fall within the domain of delegated legislation in the form of orders-in-council issued by the Prime Minister or ministerial orders issued by individual cabinet ministers. Orders-in-council and other delegated legislation issued in areas reserved for primary legislation are illegal, such orders define implementation measures and details left out by the originating statute. For various reasons explained below, the Executive may sometimes want to pass legislation in a field reserved by statute. The ordonnances are the means to do so. Statutes are thus relatively more solid, the decisions made by the French President under art. 16 of the French Constitution, enabling him to take measures in times where the existence of the Republic is at stake are not called ordonnances. The word ordonnance comes from the root as ordonner to order. In the French Fifth Republic, most ordonnances operate pursuant to article 38 of the French Constitution, the Council of Ministers first introduces a bill before Parliament authorizing it to issue ordonnances to implement its program. The bill specifies a period of time, as well as a topic for the proposed ordonnances. If the bill passes in Parliament, the French Cabinet can issue ordonnances on the legal matter within the specified time period. The Executive must consult the Council of State on every ordonnance, an ordonnance must be signed by the French President, the Prime Minister and relevant ministers. Before the time period has elapsed, the Cabinet must introduce before Parliament a bill of ratification for the ordonnances, until Parliament has voted the ratification bill, the ordonnances, similar to executive orders, can be challenged before the Council of State. If they are ratified, they become like ordinary statutes, there is, however, no obligation that they should be ratified, in which case they are mere regulations, in fact, between 1960 and 1990, out of 158 ordonnances, only about 30 were ratified. This can happen even though the ratification bill has been brought before Parliament, it is not necessarily scheduled for examination. If Parliament votes down the bill, it does not go into effect. However, implicit ratification was prohibited by a 2008 constitutional amendment and it has occasionally happened that the Executive did not make use of the authorization that they had requested and obtained
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Judiciary
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The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes, in some nations, under doctrines of separation of powers, the judiciary generally does not make law or enforce law, but rather interprets law and applies it to the facts of each case. In other nations, the judiciary can make law, known as Common Law, by setting precedent for other judges to follow, the Judiciary is often tasked with ensuring equal justice under law. In many jurisdictions the judicial branch has the power to change laws through the process of judicial review, Judges constitute a critical force for interpretation and implementation of a constitution, thus de facto in common law countries creating the body of constitutional law. Budget of the judiciary in many transitional and developing countries is almost completely controlled by the executive, the latter undermines the separation of powers, as it creates a critical financial dependence of the judiciary. The proper national wealth distribution including the government spending on the judiciary is subject of the constitutional economics and it is important to distinguish between the two methods of corruption of the judiciary, the state, and the private. For instance, in France, the jurisprudence constante of the Court of Cassation or the Council of State is equivalent in practice with case law, in common law jurisdictions, courts interpret law, this includes constitutions, statutes, and regulations. They also make law based upon prior case law in areas where the legislature has not made law, for instance, the tort of negligence is not derived from statute law in most common law jurisdictions. The term common law refers to this kind of law, in civil law jurisdictions, courts interpret the law, but are prohibited from creating law, and thus do not issue rulings more general than the actual case to be judged. Jurisprudence plays a role to case law. State courts, which try 98% of litigation, may have different names and organization, trial courts may be called courts of common plea, appellate courts superior courts or commonwealth courts. The judicial system, whether state or federal, begins with a court of first instance, is appealed to an appellate court, and then ends at the court of last resort. In France, the authority on the interpretation of the law is the Council of State for administrative cases. In the Peoples Republic of China, the authority on the interpretation of the law is the National Peoples Congress. Other countries such as Argentina have mixed systems that include lower courts, appeals courts, a cassation court, in this system the Supreme Court is always the final authority, but criminal cases have four stages, one more than civil law does. On the court sits a total of nine justices and this number has been changed several times. Japans process for selecting judges is longer and more stringent than the process in the United States, assistant judges are appointed from those who have completed their training at the Legal Training and Research Institute located in Wako. Once appointed, assistant judges still may not qualify to sit alone until they have served for five years, Judges require ten years of experience in practical affairs, as a public prosecutor or practicing attorney
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Schepen
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A schepen is a municipal office in Dutch-speaking countries. It has been replaced by the wethouder in the Netherlands itself, depending on the context, it may be roughly translated as an alderman, councillor, or magistrate. The Dutch word schepen has its origins in the Old Saxon word scepino and is related to the German word Schöffe, the word made its way into early Medieval Latin as scabinus in France. Originally, the referred to member of a council of deciders – literally. Their judgments originally required ratification by a majority of the people present, later, mandatory attendance and ratification were no longer required. In Flanders, the term schepen is the Dutch term used for an alderman who serves on the executive board in the municipal government. Though there is no direct English cognate, the Dutch term schepen is generally translated into English as alderman, schepen has a slightly different meaning depending on whether the term is used in a historic context or in a modern political context. Later the name of the institute of the council of Aldermen became the Schepenbank, the Schepenen both legislated, ratified treaties and acted as judges. Each Flemish municipality has a town council. During the first meeting of an elected town council, council members vote by secret ballot to elect the schepenen. An absolute majority is required for a schepen to be voted in, once elected, the schepenen serve with the mayor on an executive board charged with the day-to-day management of town and city affairs. The executive board is referred to in Dutch as the college van burgemeester en schepenen, Schepenen are often assigned portfolio areas such as culture, education or city planning. They have several executive responsibilities relating to their portfolios and thus assist the mayor in governing the town or city, the total number of schepenen in a town depends on its population. A city like Antwerp has ten, whereas Herstappe, the smallest community in Belgium, has only two, since a schepen is also an ordinary alderman or town councillor, he or she must be re-elected to remain in the office of schepen. Since 2006, Belgian citizenship has not been a requirement for the position, in the Netherlands, the term schepen has been discontinued and replaced by wethouder. Historically, schepenen had administrative and judicial duties in a Dutch seigneury, when acting in an administrative capacity, a schepen was similar to an alderman or town councillor, and is usually referred to in that way in English. When acting in a capacity, the schepenen were often referred to as the schepenbank. One of the functions of the schepenbank was to pass judgment on criminals, as a result, the word schepen is often translated into English as magistrate in this Dutch historical context
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Heerlijkheid
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A heerlijkheid was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in the Dutch-speaking Low Countries before 1800. It originated as a unit of lordship under the system during the Middle Ages. The English equivalents are manor, seigniory, and lordship, the heerlijkheid system was the Dutch version of manorialism that prevailed in the Low Countries and was the precursor to the modern municipality system in the Netherlands and Flemish Belgium. A typical heerlijkheid manor consisted of a village and the surrounding lands extending out for a kilometre or so, taking 18th-century Wassenaar as an example of a large hoge heerlijkheid, it was 3,612 morgens in size and had 297 houses. Nearby Voorschoten was 1,538 morgens in size and had 201 houses, nootdorp was an ambachtsheerlijkheid of 196 morgens and 58 houses. There were 517 heerlijkheden in the province of Holland in the 18th century, all fell into the last three categories in the list below. Not all heerlijkheden were the same and they differed in size and composition. A Flemish castellany was larger and different from a heerlijkheid, there were different kinds of heerlijkheid, vrijheerlijkheid — an allod or allodium. These heerlijkheden were found usually at the edges of a county and were called ‘free’ because they were instead of a fief held by an overlord. Hoge heerlijkheid — a great barony or ‘honour’, either a fief or allodium, in these large lordships, the lord had jurisdiction to appoint a bailiff instead of just a reeve, and to administer capital punishment. It was possible for a heerlijkheid to be both prescriptive and large, the largest were actually mini-counties within the county. Ambacht or ambachtsheerlijkheid — a serjeanty, often located rather than on the borders. Serjeanties sometimes consisted of nothing more than a castle and a few hectares of land, the serjeant did not have the power of ‘pit and gallows’, i. e. the power to impose the death penalty. In Dutch, the lord was called heer and the lady vrouw, the lord was also referred to by the Latin word dominus. A rarer English alternative is seigneur, there were different kinds of lord and lady, vrijheer and vrijvrouwe — allodial lord or allodiary, tenant of an allodial lordship. Erfheer and erfvrouwe — feudal baron or mesne lord, tenant of a fiefdom, baanderheer — tenant by knight-service, some lords used this title when their noble line was ancient and therefore superior to other nobles ambachtsheer — tenant by serjeanty. Under the feudal system, a manorial lord typically was himself the vassal of a higher-ranking tenant-in-chief, usually a highborn noble, however, sometimes there was no mesne tenancy, as was the case with knights fees held in capite. The heerlijkheid was ruled directly by a count, a viscount or a baron, also, it was not uncommon for the lord to be ecclesiastical, e. g. a prince-bishop or prince-abbot
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Water board (Netherlands)
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Dutch water boards are regional government bodies charged with managing water barriers, waterways, water levels, water quality and sewage treatment in their respective regions. These regional water authorities are among the oldest forms of government in the Netherlands. Around 26 percent of the area of the Netherlands is at or below sea level, historically there always was a good deal of coastal and river flooding. Natural sand dunes and man-made dikes, dams and floodgates provide defense against storm surges from the sea, Water boards are independent local government bodies responsible for maintaining this system. An Unie van Waterschappen promotes the interests of Dutch water boards at a national and international level,23 of the water boards are members of this association. This method of controlling water emerged as the water was tamed. The first dikes and water control structures were built and maintained by those directly benefiting from them, as the structures got more extensive and complex, councils were formed from people with a common interest in control of water levels of their land. The first water boards were formed in the 13th century and these often controlled only a small area, a single polder or dike. As these boards became better organised, the counts of Holland began granting charters to the boards and they were also granted the right to make their own bylaws. The ever-present threat of loss of life and land required short lines of communication between authorities and residents who maintained the infrastructure, the threat of flooding in a heerlijkheid was best dealt with by local authorities, so water boards were originally chaired by the local nobility. Local water boards were set up to maintain integrity of water defences around local polders, to maintain waterways inside polders and to various water levels in. The mandate of these boards was maintenance of dikes, dunes and waterways, control of water level. The original water boards varied much in organisation, power and area they managed, the differences were often dictated by different circumstances, whether they had to defend a sea dike against a storm surge or keep water level in a polder within bounds. Hoogheemraadschappen were responsible for protecting the land against the sea and for regulating water levels of various canals and lakes into which water was pumped from polders and waterschappen. Dikes were maintained by individuals who benefited from their existence, every farmer was designated a part of a dike to maintain, the old rule was Whom the water harms stops the water. This meant that living at the dike had to pay. Those people could go bankrupt from having to repair a breached dike and those living further inland often refused to pay for or assist upkeep of dikes, even though they were just as much affected by floods. This system led to maintenance and it is believed that many floods would be prevented or mitigated if dikes had been in better condition
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Reversal (law)
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In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and interpreting law, although appellate courts have existed for thousands of years, common law countries did not incorporate an affirmative right to appeal into their jurisprudence until the 19th century. Appellate courts and other systems of error correction have existed for many millennia, during the first dynasty of Babylon, Hammurabi and his governors served as the highest appellate courts of the land. Ancient Roman law employed a complex hierarchy of courts, where some appeals would be heard by the emperor. Additionally, appellate courts have existed in Japan since at least the Kamakura Shogunate, during this time, the Shogunate established hikitsuke, a high appellate court to aid the state in adjudicating lawsuits. Although some scholars argue that the right to appeal is itself a substantive liberty interest, in fact, commentators have observed that common law jurisdictions were particularly slow to incorporate a right to appeal into either its civil or criminal jurisprudence. Two years later, the right to appeals was extended to criminal cases. Some states, such as Minnesota, still do not formally recognize a right to criminal appeals, although some courts permit appeals at preliminary stages of litigation, most litigants appeal final orders and judgments from lower courts. A fundamental premise of many legal systems is that appellate courts review questions of law de novo, instead, appellate courts will generally defer to the record established by the trial court, unless some error occurred during the fact-finding process. Many jurisdictions provide a statutory or constitutional right for litigants to appeal adverse decisions, however, most jurisdictions also recognize that this right may be waived. In the United States, for example, litigants may waive the right to appeal, as long as the waiver is “considered, unlike trials, appeals are generally presented to a judge, or a panel of judges, rather than a jury. Before making any formal argument, parties will generally submit legal briefs in which the present their arguments. Appellate courts may grant permission for an amicus curiae to submit a brief in support of a particular party or position. After submitting briefs, parties often have the opportunity to present an argument to a judge or panel of judges. During oral arguments, judges often ask question to attorneys to challenge their arguments or to advance their own legal theories, after deliberating in chambers, appellate courts will issue formal opinions that resolve the legal issues presented for review. When considering cases on appeal, appellate courts generally affirm, reverse, some courts maintain a dual function, where they consider both appeals as well as matters of first instance. For example, the Supreme Court of the United States primarily hears cases on appeal, some jurisdictions maintain a system of intermediate appellate courts, which are subject to the review of higher appellate courts. The highest appellate court in a jurisdiction is referred to as a court of last resort
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Johan van Oldenbarnevelt
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Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Lord of Berkel en Rodenrijs, Gunterstein and Bakkum was a Dutch statesman who played an important role in the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain. Van Oldenbarnevelt was born in Amersfoort and he studied law at Leuven, Bourges, Heidelberg and Padua, and traveled in France and Italy before settling in The Hague. He supported William the Silent in his revolt against Spain, in his later years he was a supporter of the Arminians, in the religious-political controversy which split the young Dutch Republic. Van Oldenbarnevelt served as a volunteer for the relief of Haarlem and he was married in 1575 to Maria van Utrecht. In 1576 he obtained the important post of pensionary of Rotterdam, in this capacity his industry, singular grasp of affairs, and persuasive powers of speech speedily gained for him a position of influence. He was active in promoting the Union of Utrecht and the offer of the countship of Holland and Zeeland to William the Silent. He was an opponent of the policies of the Earl of Leicester, the governor‐general at the time, and instead favoured Maurice of Nassau. Leicester left in 1587, leaving the power in the Netherlands to Maurice. During the governorship of Leicester, Van Oldenbarnevelt was the leader of the opposition offered by the States of Holland to the centralizing policy of the governor. On 16 March 1586, Van Oldenbarnevelt, in succession to Paulus Buys, became Lands Advocate of Holland for the States of Holland and this great office, given to a man of commanding ability and industry, offered unbounded influence in a multi-headed republic without any central executive authority. Though nominally the servant of the States of Holland, Van Oldenbarnevelt made himself the political personification of the province which bore more than half the charge of the union. As mouthpiece of the States-General, he dominated the assembly. In a brief period, he entrusted with such large and far-reaching authority in all details of administration. During the two years following the withdrawal of Leicester, the Advocates statesmanship kept the United Provinces from collapsing under their own inherent separatist tendencies. This prevented the United Provinces from becoming an easy conquest for the army of Alexander of Parma. Also of good fortune for the Netherlands, the attention of Philip II of Spain was at its greatest weakness, spains lack of attention coupled with the United Provinces lack of central, organized government allowed Van Oldenbarnevelt to gain control of administrative affairs. His task was made easier by receiving whole-hearted support from Maurice of Nassau and he was also Captain-General and Admiral of the Union. The interests and ambitions of Van Oldenbarnevelt and Maurice did not clash, indeed, Maurices thoughts were centered on training and leading armies, and he had no special capacity as a statesman or desire for politics
26.
Hugo Grotius
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Hugo Grotius, also known as Huig de Groot or Hugo de Groot, was a Dutch jurist. Along with the works of Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili, Grotius laid the foundations for international law. A teenage intellectual prodigy, he was imprisoned for his involvement in the intra-Calvinist disputes of the Dutch Republic and he wrote most of his major works in exile in France. Because of his theological underpinning of free trade, he is considered an economic theologist. Born in Delft during the Dutch Revolt, Hugo was the first child of Jan de Groot, a prodigious learner, Hugo entered the University of Leiden when he was just eleven years old. There he studied some of the most acclaimed intellectuals in northern Europe, including Franciscus Junius, Joseph Justus Scaliger. Omnes, & emendati, & Notis, siue Februis Hug, in Holland, Grotius earned an appointment as advocate to The Hague in 1599 and then as official historiographer for the States of Holland in 1601. The Dutch were at war with Spain and Portugal when the merchant ship Santa Catarina. The scandal led to a judicial hearing and a wider campaign to sway public opinion. It was in this context that representatives of the Company called upon Grotius to draft a polemical defence of the seizure. The result of Grotius efforts in 1604/05 was a long, theory-laden treatise that he provisionally entitled De Indis, Grotius sought to ground his defense of the seizure in terms of the natural principles of justice. In this, he had cast a net much wider than the case at hand, his interest was in the source, the treatise was never published in full during Grotius lifetime, perhaps because the court ruling in favor of the Company preempted the need to garner public support. In The Free Sea Grotius formulated the new principle that the sea was international territory, Grotius, by claiming free seas, provided suitable ideological justification for the Dutch breaking up of various trade monopolies through its formidable naval power. In 1608 he married Maria van Reigersbergen, with whom he would have eight children and who would be invaluable in helping him and the family to weather the storm to come. The domestic dissension resulting over Arminius professorship was overshadowed by the war with Spain. The new peace would move the focus to the controversy. The controversy expanded when the Remonstrant theologian Conrad Vorstius was appointed to replace Jacobus Arminius as the chair at Leiden. Vorstius was soon seen by Counter-Remonstrants as moving beyond the teachings of Arminius into Socinianism, leading the call for Vorstius removal was theology professor Sibrandus Lubbertus
27.
Amboyna massacre
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From its inception, the Dutch Republic was at war with the Spanish crown. In 1598 the king of Spain embargoed Dutch trade with Portugal, like other European traders they tried to obtain a local monopsony in the spice trade by keeping out the factors of other European countries by force of arms. This especially caused strife with the English East India Company while the actions of the interloper Sir Edward Michelborne incensed the Dutch, unavoidably, the national governments got involved, and this threatened the congenial relations between James I of England and the Dutch States General. King James I and the Netherlands States General caused the two warring companies to conclude a Treaty of Defence in London in 1619 creating cooperation in the East Indies. The Dutch interpreted this provision to mean that each company had legal jurisdiction over the employees of both companies in the places it administered. Contrarily, the English maintained, on the basis of the arbitration-article 30 of the treaty and this proved to be an important difference of opinion in the ensuing events. Despite the treaty, relations between the two remained tense. In the Amboyna region, local VOC-governor Herman van Speult had trouble, in late 1622, with the Sultan of Ternate, van Speult suspected the English of secretly stirring up these troubles. As a result, the Dutch at Amboyna became suspicious of the English traders that shared the trading post with them and these vague suspicions became concrete when in February 1623 one of the Japanese mercenary soldiers was caught in the act of spying on the defenses of the fortress Victoria. When questioned under torture the soldier confessed to a conspiracy with other Japanese mercenaries to seize the fortress and he also implicated the head of the English factors, Gabriel Towerson, as a member of the conspiracy. Subsequently, Towerson and the other English personnel in Amboina and adjacent islands were arrested and questioned, in most, but not all, cases torture was used during the questioning. Torture consisted of having water poured over the head, around which a cloth was draped and this was the usual investigative torture in the Dutch East Indies at the time. According to Dutch trial records, most suspects confirmed that they were guilty as charged, since the accusation was treason, those that had confessed were sentenced to death by a court consisting of the Governor and Council of the VOC at Amboina. However, four of the English and two of the Japanese condemned were subsequently pardoned, consequently, ten Englishmen, nine Japanese and one Portuguese, were executed. On 9 March 1623 they were beheaded, and the head of the English captain, when the English could not get redress in Batavia, they traveled to England, accompanied by the English factor at Batavia. Their story caused an uproar in England, the directors of the EIC asked that the English government demand reparations from the VOC and exemplary punishment of the Amboina judges from the Dutch government. According to the English ambassador Sir Dudley Carleton, the version of events as he presented it also caused much anger at the VOC in Dutch government circles, however, the VOC soon presented its version of events which contradicted the English version in essential respects. The Dutch States General proposed a joint Anglo-Dutch commission of inquiry to establish the facts, the Amboyna judges were recalled from the East-Indies and put under house arrest
28.
Arbitrage
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For instance, an arbitrage is present when there is the opportunity to instantaneously buy low and sell high. People who engage in arbitrage are called arbitrageurs /ˌɑːrbᵻtrɑːˈʒɜːr/—such as a bank or brokerage firm, the term is mainly applied to trading in financial instruments, such as bonds, stocks, derivatives, commodities and currencies. Arbitrage is a French word and denotes a decision by an arbitrator or arbitration tribunal, an arbitrage equilibrium is a precondition for a general economic equilibrium. The no arbitrage assumption is used in finance to calculate a unique risk neutral price for derivatives. This refers to the method of valuing a coupon-bearing financial instrument by discounting its future cash flows by multiple discount rates, by doing so, a more accurate price can be obtained than if the price is calculated with a present-value pricing approach. Arbitrage-free pricing is used for bond valuation and to detect arbitrage opportunities for investors, for the purpose of valuing the price of a bond, its cash flows can each be thought of as packets of incremental cash flows with a large packet upon maturity, being the principal. Since the cash flows are dispersed throughout future periods, they must be discounted back to the present, in the present-value approach, the cash flows are discounted with one discount rate to find the price of the bond. In arbitrage-free pricing, multiple discount rates are used, the present-value approach assumes that the yield of the bond will stay the same until maturity. This is a model because interest rates may fluctuate in the future. The discount rate may be different for each of the flows for this reason. Each cash flow can be considered an instrument that pays one payment upon maturity. The discount rates used should be the rates of multiple bonds with maturity dates the same as each cash flow. By using multiple discount rates, the price is the sum of the discounted cash flows. Arbitrage-free price refers to the price at no price arbitrage is possible. The ideas of using multiple discount rates obtained from zero-coupon bonds, the yield curve is a curve of the yields of the same bond with different maturities. This curve can be used to view trends in market expectations of how interest rates move in the future. In arbitrage-free pricing of a bond, a curve of similar zero-coupon bonds with different maturities is created. If the curve were to be created with Treasury securities of different maturities and this is to transform the bonds into zero-coupon bonds
29.
The Hague
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The Hague is a city on the western coast of the Netherlands, and the capital city of the province of South Holland. With a population of 520,704 inhabitants and more than one million including the suburbs, it is the third-largest city of the Netherlands. The Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Area, with a population of approximately 2.7 million, is the 12th-largest in the European Union and the most populous in the country. Located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government, parliament, the Supreme Court, and the Council of State, but the city is not the capital of the Netherlands, which constitutionally is Amsterdam. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands plans to live at Huis ten Bosch and works at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, the Hague is also home to the world headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell and numerous other major Dutch companies. The Hague originated around 1230, when Count Floris IV of Holland purchased land alongside a pond, in 1248, his son and successor William II, King of the Romans, decided to extend the residence to a palace, which would later be called the Binnenhof. He died in 1256 before this palace was completed but parts of it were finished by his son Floris V, of which the Ridderzaal and it is still used for political events, such as the annual speech from the throne by the Dutch monarch. From the 13th century onwards, the counts of Holland used The Hague as their administrative centre, the village that originated around the Binnenhof was first mentioned as Haga in a charter dating from 1242. In the 15th century, the smarter des Graven hage came into use, literally The Counts Wood, with connotations like The Counts Hedge, s-Gravenhage was officially used for the city from the 17th century onwards. Today, this name is used in some official documents like birth. The city itself uses Den Haag in all its communication and their seat was located in The Hague. At the beginning of the Eighty Years War, the absence of city walls proved disastrous, in 1575, the States of Holland even considered demolishing the city but this proposal was abandoned, after mediation by William of Orange. From 1588, The Hague also became the seat of the government of the Dutch Republic, in order for the administration to maintain control over city matters, The Hague never received official city status, although it did have many of the privileges normally granted only to cities. In modern administrative law, city rights have no place anymore, only in 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was a puppet state of the First French Empire, was the settlement granted city rights by Louis Bonaparte. After the Napoleonic Wars, modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands were combined in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands to form a buffer against France, as a compromise, Brussels and Amsterdam alternated as capital every two years, with the government remaining in The Hague. After the separation of Belgium in 1830, Amsterdam remained the capital of the Netherlands, when the government started to play a more prominent role in Dutch society after 1850, The Hague quickly expanded. The growing city annexed the rural municipality of Loosduinen partly in 1903, the city sustained heavy damage during World War II
30.
Stadtholder
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In the Low Countries, stadtholder, literally steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. For the last half century of its existence, it became a hereditary role. His son, Prince William V, was the last stadtholder of the republic, whose own son, King William I, became the first king of the Netherlands. The Dutch Monarchy is thus descended from the first stadtholder of the young Republic, William of Orange, the title stadtholder is roughly comparable to Englands historic title Lord Lieutenant. Its component parts literally translate as place holder, or as a cognate, stead holder. Note, however, that is not the word for the rank of lieutenant. Stadtholders in the Middle Ages were appointed by feudal lords to represent them in their absence, if a lord had several dominions, some of these could be ruled by a permanent stadtholder, to whom was delegated the full authority of the lord. A stadtholder was thus more powerful than a governor, who had limited authority. The local rulers of the independent provinces of the Low Countries made extensive use of stadtholders, in the 15th century the Dukes of Burgundy acquired most of the Low Countries, and these Burgundian Netherlands mostly each had their own stadtholder. Only the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and two smaller territories remained outside his domains, stadtholders continued to be appointed to represent Charles and King Philip II, his son and successor in Spain and the Low Countries. Due to the centralist and absolutist policies of Philip, the power of the stadtholders strongly diminished. The stadtholder no longer represented the lord but became the highest executive official, although each province could assign its own stadtholder, most stadtholders held appointments from several provinces at the same time. As these councils themselves appointed most members of the states, the stadtholder could very indirectly influence the general policy, in the army, he could appoint officers by himself, in the navy only affirm appointments of the five admiralty councils. Legal powers of the stadtholder were thus limited, and by law he was a mere official. His real powers, however, were greater, especially given the martial law atmosphere of the permanent Eighty Years War. Maurice of Orange after 1618 ruled as a dictator. The leader of the Dutch Revolt was William the Silent, he had been appointed stadtholder in 1572 by the first province to rebel and his personal influence and reputation was subsequently associated with the office and transferred to members of his house. Maurice in 1618 and William III of Orange from 1672 replaced entire city councils with their partisans to increase their power, by intimidation, the stadtholders tried to extend their right of affirmation
31.
First Stadtholderless Period
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The First Stadtholderless Period or Era is the period in the history of the Dutch Republic in which the office of a Stadtholder was absent in five of the seven Dutch provinces. It happened to coincide with the period when it reached the zenith of its economic, military, the term has acquired a negative connotation in 19th-century Orangist Dutch historiography, but whether such a negative view is justified is debatable. A convenient war with Portugal enabled the Dutch East India Company to take over the remnants of the Portuguese empire in Ceylon, Dutch industry, especially textiles, was as yet not hindered by protectionism. As a consequence, the Republics economy enjoyed its last great economic boom, the office of Stadtholder of a province predated the Republic. William the Silent had been such a stadtholder in Holland and Zeeland under the Habsburg regime, until he was removed from office in 1567. After the Dutch Revolt broke out, he simply reassumed that office in 1572 with the connivance of the rebel States of Holland, however, in the circumstances of the ongoing war with Spain, the Captain-general was indispensable. And the office of stadtholder remained an important power-base, enabling its holder to exert an influence far beyond its formal powers, Maurice stopped this with a coup détat and subsequently asserted a federal sovereignty that superseded the provincial one. His brother, and successor as stadtholder, Frederick Henry held on to this ascendancy, due to a policy of divide-and conquer. When Frederick Henry died in March,1647, his son William II was appointed stadtholder in Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Overijssel, and Gelderland. William was opposed to the peace with Spain, but he was ignored by the politicians in the States General. In the years following the peace a number of conflicts erupted between the stadtholder and especially the States of Holland about policy. William keenly supported the Calvinist die-hards in their attempts to force the Protestant religion on the Catholic inhabitants of the recently acquired Generality Lands and this was, however, just political posturing on Williams part, cynically exploiting certain prejudices in an attempt to gain ascendancy over the regents. More important as a matter of principle was the conflict over the reduction of the army that arose during 1649 and 1650. The regents understandably did not quite see the need for an expensive, large, though the parties came close to an agreement on a total of about 29,000 men, the final difference of a few hundred men proved to be insurmountable. The policy conflict had become a test of wills, and it soon grew into a constitutional conflict, reminiscent of the crisis of 1618. The implication of this was, of course, that the dissolution of the Union was a possibility, like his uncle Maurice, William now felt he needed to save the Union, if need be by force. On July 30,1650, William had six leading Holland regents arrested in The Hague, the States of Holland then capitulated and rescinded its order to disband the troops. The theory of provincial supremacy was disavowed also, however, William was stricken with smallpox in his hour of triumph
32.
Second Stadtholderless Period
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During the period the Republic lost its Great-Power status and its primacy in world trade, processes that went hand-in-hand, the latter causing the former. A military crisis at the end of the period caused the fall of the States-Party regime, however, though the new stadtholder acquired near-dictatorial powers, this did not improve the situation. Anybody who had stood in the way of those stadtholders, like the representatives of the States Party, Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Hugo Grotius, Johan de Witt, though not actually demonized, got decidedly shorter shrift than later historians were prepared to do. The lesser-known regents of later years even fared worse, John Lothrop Motley, who introduced Americans to the history of the Dutch Republic in the 19th century, was strongly influenced by this point of view. Superficially, the Orangist historians seemed to have a point, because both stadtholderless periods arguably ended in disaster, the negative connotation of the term therefore seemed well deserved. However, other historians put question marks next to the process that the Orangists postulated. However this may be, one could ask whether an emotionally and politically loaded term like this is appropriate as a historical label in the task of historical periodization. It was the cornerstone of De Witts True Freedom, the underpinning of his States-Party regime during the first period. He was appointed stadtholder in Holland and Zeeland in July,1672 and his political position was further consolidated when the office of stadtholder was made hereditary for his putative descendants in the male line in Holland and Zeeland in 1674. Many have erroneously interpreted these developments as the office of the stadtholder becoming monarchical and that would be a misunderstanding, however, even though the court of the stadtholder took on a decidedly princely aspect. If William was a monarch at all, it was a one, with still sharply limited powers. The States-General remained sovereign in the Republic, the entity with which other states concluded treaties, the new, extended prerogatives of the stadtholder mostly regarded his powers of patronage and these enabled him to build a strong powerbase. But his power was in large manner checked by other centers of power, especially the States of Holland, especially that city was able to obstruct Williams policies if they were perceived to conflict with its interest. But if they coincided William was able to forge a coalition that could override any opposition, nevertheless, these developments were a result of Williams persuasive powers and skill in coalition building, not from his exercise of monarchical powers. Though commander-in-chief of the Republic, William could not simply order the invasion, but needed the authorization of the States-General and it did not necessarily extend to the domestic policy field in all respects, and this may explain the course of events after Williams sudden death in early 1702. The succession to his titles and offices was not that clear. As William died without issue, he had to make provisions in his last will, indeed, he made John William Friso, Prince of Orange, head of the cadet branch of Nassau-Dietz of the family, his general heir, both privately and politically. There was doubt, however, if he had the authority to dispose of the complex of titles and lands, connected with the title Prince of Orange, as he saw fit
33.
Binnenhof
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The Binnenhof is a complex of buildings in the city centre of The Hague, next to the Hofvijver lake. It houses the place of both houses of the States General of the Netherlands, as well as the Ministry of General Affairs. Built primarily in the 13th century, the Gothic castle originally functioned as residence of the counts of Holland and it is counted among the Top 100 Dutch heritage sites. The Binnenhof is the oldest House of Parliament in the still in use. Little is known about the origin of the Binnenhof, presumably, the grounds next to the Hofvijver lake, and the small homestead on it, were purchased by Count Floris IV of Holland from Meiland van Wassenaar in November 1229. Between 1230 and 1234 he had the homestead expanded to a small keep, after Floris son and successor William II was crowned King of the Romans in 1248, this construction continued. Between 1248 and 1280, William had the Ridderzaal built, to its left and right, walls were built, which divided the area in front of the building from that behind it. At the end of the wall on the left, near the Hofvijver, the chapel was built. William died in battle in 1256, before the construction of the Ridderzaal had finished, the Binnenhof was the residence of the counts of Holland for a short period. After the house of Holland died out in 1299, the county fell in the hands of the counts of Hainaut, the counts of Hainaut barely resided in the Binnenhof in the early 14th century. Duke Albert I of Bavaria and his successor William II lived in the Binnenhof virtually permanently, under their reign, the castle saw a sizeable expansion, and gradually became enclosed by buildings. When Holland had become part of the Burgundian Empire in 1432, part of the complex was later made into the residence of the stadtholder of Holland, who governed the county in absence of its ruler. After Philip II was deposed as Count of Holland and the Dutch Republic was proclaimed in 1581, in 1584, stadtholder Maurice moved into the stadtholders quarter, and in the same year, the Ridderzaal became the meeting place of the newly formed States General of the Dutch Republic. Between 1806 and 1810, under French rule, the centre of the Netherlands was moved to Amsterdam. When the Netherlands gained independence from France, however, the government moved back to the Binnenhof, the local residents, however, cared more for the historic value of the building, and successfully protested against demolition. Originally built as a ballroom, the Gothic Ridderzaal today forms the centre of the Binnenhof, every third Tuesday of September, on Prinsjesdag, this is where the King holds his annual Speech from the Throne. Other buildings shape a rectangle around the Ridderzaal, creating a courtyard in front of the building. A gilt Neo-Gothic fountain adorns the courtyard and a statue of King William II, one of few Dutch equestrian statues, guards its gate, the Stadtholders Gate, today, the lower house meets in a chamber in the large modern eastern part of the complex
34.
Quorum
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A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised, the requirement for a quorum is protection against totally unrepresentative action in the name of the body by a small number of persons. The term quorum is from a Middle English wording of the commission formerly issued to justices of the peace, derived from Latin quorum, of whom, genitive plural of qui, as a result, quora as plural of quorum is not a valid Latin formation. Each assembly determines the number of members constitutes a quorum in its governing documents. The quorum may also be set by law, in the absence of such a provision, a quorum in an assembly whose membership can be determined is a majority of the entire membership. In the meetings of a convention, unless provided otherwise, a quorum is a majority of registered delegates, in a mass meeting or in an organization in which the membership cannot be accurately determined, the quorum consists of those who attend the meeting. In committees and boards, a quorum is a majority of the members of the board or committee unless provided otherwise, the board or committee cannot set its own quorum unless given such power. In a committee of the whole or its variants, a quorum is the same as the assembly unless otherwise provided, in online groups, a quorum has to be determined in a different manner since no one is actually present. The rules establishing such groups would have to prescribe this determination, an example is that a quorum in such groups could be established as present if enough members state that they are present at the designated meeting time. The chair of the group has the responsibility to determine if a quorum is present, in addition, any member can raise a point of order about an apparent absence of a quorum. When a quorum is not met, the assembly can only take limited procedural actions. These limited actions are to fix the time to which to adjourn, adjourn, recess, or take measures to obtain a quorum, any other business that is conducted is not valid unless it is ratified at a later meeting where a quorum is present. However, there is no obligation to ratify such action and those responsible may be punished for their actions, in legislatures and other assemblies that have the legal power to compel the attendance of their members, the call of the house procedure may be used to obtain a quorum. This procedure does not exist in ordinary societies, since voluntary associations have no coercive power, when a call of the house is ordered, the clerk calls the roll of members and then the names of absentees. Members who do not have an excused absence are arrested and brought in, the arrested members may be charged a fee. In the United States Senate, the procedure was used in the morning hours of February 25,1988. Byrds motion was approved 45-3 and arrest warrants were signed for all 46 Republicans, after a cleaning woman gave a tip that Senator Robert Packwood of Oregon was in his office, Giugni opened the door with a skeleton key. Packwood attempted to shove the door closed, but Giugni and two assistants pushed it open, Packwood was carried feet-first into the Senate chamber by three plainclothes officers and sustained bruised knuckles
