Constitution of the Netherlands

The Constitution for the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Grondwet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden) is one of two fundamental documents governing the Kingdom of the Netherlands as well as the fundamental law of the European territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The present constitution is generally seen as directly derived from the one issued in 1815, constituting a constitutional monarchy. A revision in 1848 instituted a system of parliamentary democracy. In 1983, a major revision of the constitution was undertaken, almost fully rewriting the text and adding new civil rights. The text is very sober, devoid of legal or political doctrine. It includes a bill of rights. The constitution prohibits the judiciary to test laws and treaties against the constitution, as this is considered a prerogative of the legislature. There is no constitutional court in the Netherlands, except for the Constitutional Court of Sint Maarten which only governs the Sint Maarten legislator. The Kingdom of the Netherlands also includes Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten: there is an overarching instrument of the entire kingdom that has constitution characterisics: the Statute of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The first constitution of the Netherlands as a whole, in the sense of a fundamental law which applied to all its provinces and cities, is the 1579 constitution, which established the confederal republic of the Seven United Provinces. The constitution was empowered by the Union of Utrecht, thus by treaty. Article XIII of the treaty granted each inhabitant of the Republic freedom of conscience. The Union of Utrecht treaty inspired the American Articles of Confederation.

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