Dutch Parliament members are reluctant to discuss their urgent need for more support staff. They are afraid to be labelled as “greedy” or profiteers if they were to put in a request for more assistance. But times seem to be changing.

On 25 April the Dutch Review Committee for the Deployment of Powers (in Dutch: TIB) presented its first annual report to the First and Second Chamber of the Dutch government. The TIB informs in the annual report on its findings and activities in the period from 1 May 2018 to 1 April 2019. The report…

X’s guidelines prohibit manipulated and misleading media. And yet owner Elon Musk recently posted a video of Kamala Harris with an AI voice. Professor of Law and Digital Technologies Gerrit-Jan Zwenne talks to Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’ about what Musk is and is not allowed to post.

On 7 December, Armin Cuyvers (Assistant Professor at the Europa Institute) gave a lecture on the legal complications surrounding Brexit for Mordenate College.

Geert Wilders’ PVV Party believes that Islam is a totalitarian ideology and not a religion, and thus Muslims are not equally entitled to the same freedom of religion or belief as other believers. This view is incompatible with liberal democracy, according to Hans-Martien ten Napel.

On 15 September Armin Cuyvers lectured on the legal challenges surrounding Brexit for the The Academy for Legislation, the most important educational institute for legislative lawyers in the Netherlands.

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

On Tuesday June 14th, Dr. Armin Cuyvers of Leiden Law School discussed the legal consequences of a possible Brexit in the radio program Juridische Zaken (Legal Matters) of Business News Radio (BNR).

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

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

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Conatus News has publiced an extensive review of the book The Fall and Rise of Blasphemy Law by Paul Cliteur and Tom Herrenberg.

Students attending Richard Albert’s seminar on constitutional change asked Reijer critical questions about an article he recently wrote with Maarten Stremler.

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

On 29 June 2018, Jan Michiel Otto, professor of Law and Governance in Developing Countries and director of the Van Vollenhoven Institute until 2018, delivered his valedictory lecture entitled De ander als spiegel: reflecties over recht en bestuur in ontwikkelingslanden (The Other as a Mirror. Reflections…

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

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

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

On 2 and 3 September 2016, the International Conference on ASEAN Development (ICAD) 2016 took place in Leiden. The conference aimed to draw comparative lessons from the EU for the development of the ASEAN Economic Community, which was launched in 2015.

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

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

The process of forming a new coalition government in the Netherlands continued in the city of Hilversum last week. Geert Wilders has promised to withdraw three controversial own-initiative proposals in order to accommodate potential coalition partners. But is that enough to persuade Pieter Omtzigt,…

The Dutch government chairs the EU council this year. Researchers from Leiden took this opportunity to reflect on the future of the European Union and to give recommendations where possible. The book will be presented on Friday 29 April, 10.15 AM in Nieuws Poort (Den Haag). Attending the event are Ankie…

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

The 8th Global Conference on Transparency Research (GCTR) took place between 15 and 17 May.

Over 1600 pupils from primary schools in Leiden and The Hague were taught by a professor of Leiden University on the 444th anniversary of our university. Three professors from the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, visited several classes of group 7 in The Hague.

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

On 11 November, Armin Cuyvers, Assistant Professor at the Europa Institute in Leiden, was one of the speakers on Brexit during the autumn meeting of the Netherlands Association for European Law (NVER).

On 5 December, Armin Cuyvers gave a lecture on the legal complications surrounding Brexit for Clingendael, the Netherlands Institute for International Relations.

Between 5 and 8 September, PhD Candidate Esteban Szmulewicz attended the 45th annual Conference of the European Group for Public Administration (EGPA), which was organised in close cooperation with The Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb and other key partners.

The fact that sexual harassment in the workplace is a persistent problem became painfully clear again last year, especially after the widely watched ‘Boos’ broadcast on Dutch television. In June, the Supreme Court in the Netherlands settled a matter related to employment law: sexual harassment does…

After three years of hard work, the students of the Honours College Law received their certificates on 22 November at an awards ceremony held at Scheltema.

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Environmental organisation Greenpeace wants to see a drastic reduction in nitrogen deposition on the Netherlands’ most vulnerable nature conservation areas. This would extend beyond the nitrogen targets that the Dutch government is currently striving to meet. Rogier Kegge, Assistant Professor of Constitutional…

Early November 2019 lecturer Michael Klos spoke about the freedom of speech on social media at the World Forum for Democracy 2019 in Strasbourg.

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

The House of Representatives in the Netherlands has requested advice from the Council of State about combining membership of the House of Representatives with holding a post in the cabinet. Geerten Boogaard sees this as a sign that the Netherlands is moving towards a constitutional court.

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

The Council of State in the Netherlands gave a ruling in the so-called Porthos case which revolves around the exemption currently in place for nitrogen emitted during the construction of major projects such as housing. The Administrative Law Division of the Council of State ruled that the partial construction…

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

Het Amerikaanse hooggerechtshof oordeelde op 1 juli dat een president tijdens hun ambtsperiode een zekere immuniteit heeft. Zij zijn onschendbaar in geval van ‘officiële handelingen’. Tessa van Buchem uit haar zorgen en kritiek in het FD.

Master's students in labour law Just Bakker and Tess van der Putten are to participate in the prestigious Hugo Sinzheimer Moot Court Competition. This EU Labour Law competition will take place in Vienna from 20 to 23 June 2024.

According to research conducted by regional Dutch newspaper ‘BN DeStem’, emigration to Russia certainly isn’t off the cards for some Dutch people. Information sessions are being held for anyone interested in emigrating to these countries. Is it acceptable for civil servants to get involved in these…

Research by Dutch television programme ‘Nieuwsuur’ shows that local councils in the Netherlands often lack civil servants and experts to support the implementation of the energy transition. As a result, they have become more dependent on commercial consultancy firms.

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

On 17 and 18 November 2016 the World Bank in Washington, D.C. hosted the Fourth International Conference on Legislation and Law Reform.

At the invitation of Professor Afshin Ellian, Prime Minister Rutte today gave a guest lecture to first-year law students as part of the course Inleiding recht (Introduction to Law) which is taught by the Deparment of Jurisprudence.

In October, the Provincial Executive in Friesland reprimanded four civil servants who had signed an incendiary letter asking the government to adopt a more active climate policy. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, feels that the Executive made a mistake.

On 17 February 2016 Armin Cuyvers was invited to speak at the Liverpool European Law Unit (LELU) in a seminar on ‘Legitimacy and participation in the EU’. In his presentation, entitled ‘National parliaments as training wheels of EU democracy?