The constitutional revision process in the Netherlands: Sensible security valve or cause of constitutional paralysis?

• Autores: Wim Voermans
• Localización: Engineering Constitutional Change: A comparative perspective on Europe, Canada and the USA / Xenophon Contiades (ed. lit.), 2012, ISBN 978-0-415-52976-1, págs. 257-272
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The Kingdom of the Netherlands has one of the oldest written constitutions in Europe.1 It rode the crest of the fi rst wave of post-revolutionary constitutions in Western Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Dutch Constitution dates back to 1814, with a fi rst major revision in 1815 when what is now Belgium joined the Kingdom of the Netherlands following the Allied Congress of Vienna. The document is restorative in nature as well as post-revolutionary (Napoleonic), a typical example of the fi rst wave of liberal constitutions in the West.2 The Dutch Constitution of 1814 did not (and does not) have a preamble,3 only a very limited list of fundamental rights, an institutional design based on the ideal division of powers (a checked and balanced legislative branch, a distinct executive, and an independent judiciary), an embryonic parliamentary system, and a fi rmly enshrined system of constitutional monarchy.4 The restorative elements are to be found in the restored powers of self-government of municipalities and provinces, and the freedom of religion and conscience