Constitutionele toetsing door de Raad van State

Under Dutch constitutional law, the legislature has the final say on the constitutionality of acts of parliament. In assessing bills, the executive and the parliament are not entirely left on their own: they are assisted by the Council of State. The advisory opinions issued by the Council are considered to be authoritative. To what extent the Council actually lives up to its reputation, however, remains to be seen. Until now, research on the practice of the Council’s advisory work on upholding the Constitution mostly deals with occasional opinions or focuses on a rather limited time period.

This thesis provides answers to the question how advisory opinions on legislation contribute to assessing the constitutionality of bills. It contains a careful analysis of decades of the Council’s practice, in particular concerning three constitutional provisions. The topics discussed deal with the fundamental right to freedom of education, the approval of treaties and the position of the municipal council. These provisions have been selected since they represent the topical scope of the Dutch Constitution. By examining how the Council interpreted the Constitution in 168 opinions, issued between 1980 and present day, the thesis provides a rich image of the consistency and quality of constitutional review in legislative advice.

Dissertation: http://hdl.handle.net/11370/3b53a96d-e486-48b9-800c-ce7b4e763af9