How to read legal citations in the Netherlands

Dutch citations name the court, the date and the report. Modern judgments carry an ECLI, a standard identifier used across Europe.

Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Style guide: Dutch conventions and the European Case Law Identifier (ECLI). Dutch courts publish judgments with an ECLI, a Europe-wide code that works the same in every country that uses it.

Real citations, decoded

Click or hover over any underlined piece to see what it means.

A Supreme Court judgment in a case report Case

Court HR
Hoge Raad, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.
Date 31 januari 1919
The date of the judgment.
Report NJ 1919/161
Nederlandse Jurisprudentie, the main Dutch case-law series, with the year and a case number. This is the Lindenbaum/Cohen case on unlawful acts.

The ECLI format Identifier

::::

Prefix ECLI
European Case Law Identifier. Every ECLI starts with these letters.
Country NL
A code for the country (NL for the Netherlands). EU means the EU courts.
Court HR
A code for the court.
Year 2020
The year of the decision.
Number 123
A number or code the court assigns to the decision.

This is an example of the pattern, not a real case. The same pattern works for many European countries and the EU courts.

A civil code article Code

Article art. 6:162
Dutch Civil Code articles are numbered by book (6), then article (162). Book 6 is the general law of obligations.
Code BW
Burgerlijk Wetboek, the Civil Code. Article 6:162 is the general rule on tort (onrechtmatige daad).

A case in the Nederlandse Jurisprudentie Case

Court HR
Hoge Raad, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.
Date 5 november 1965
The date of the decision.
Report NJ 1966/136
Nederlandse Jurisprudentie, the standard report. The year is the year of publication (1966), and 136 is the number of the report. The case is known as Kelderluik (the cellar hatch).

Things to remember

ECLI works across Europe, which makes cross-border research easier.
'Art.' stands for article, and 'BW' is the Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek).

Where to find the text, free

To understand how courts and law fit together in Netherlands, read the Netherlands profile in the Legal Families Atlas.

TheLawToKnow Tools’s citation guide is an educational overview of standard conventions. Courts and journals sometimes vary, so check the style guide before submitting or publishing. It is not legal advice. Report a mistake.