Hof van Holland

The Lairessezaal at the Binnenhof, which was the council chamber of the Hof van Holland. The paintings by Gerard de Lairesse display an interesting legal iconography.[1]

The Hof van Holland, Zeeland en West-Friesland (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦɔ(f) fɑn ˈɦɔlɑnt ˈseːlɑnt ɛɱ ʋɛst ˈfrislɑnt];[a] usually shortened to Hof van Holland in the literature, and translated in English literature as "(High) Court of Holland") was the High Court of the provinces of Holland, West Friesland and Zeeland, instituted as a separate entity of the government of the Counties of Holland and Zeeland in 1428, under the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands, and continued with little change under the Dutch Republic, Batavian Republic, and the Kingdom of Holland, until its dissolution in 1811 by the First French Empire. It should not be confused with the Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland which was the supreme court, founded in 1582 by the States-General of the Netherlands and intended for the entire Dutch Republic. The Hof was in practice the main Appellate court in Holland and Zeeland, and in number of cases-handled the most important in the entire Dutch Republic (in comparison to the sister-provincial courts like the Hof van Friesland) and its Precedents played an important role in the development of Roman-Dutch law, which is still influential in Southern Africa.[2]

  1. ^ See T. Lubbers, ‘Art for the Court: A new interpretation of Gerard de Lairesse’s paintings for the Court of Appeal of Holland (1688-1689)’, Oud Holland 2019/132, issue 2/3, pp. 109-134.
  2. ^ Smits, J.M. (2002). The Making of European Private Law: Towards a Ius Commune Europaeum As a Mixed Legal System. Intersentia. pp. 156–157.


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