Zusammenfassung
After the Second World War, the Dutch civil code, dating from 1838, was generally considered to be outdated. In the course of its existence, many gaps, particularly in the field of civil obligation law, have had to be filled by the judiciary. The result was that Dutch civil law could no longer be understood from the existing civil code as its authors originally intended, but only by studying a comprehensive number of judicial decisions over a long period. Therefore, by a decree in council of 25 April 1947, the famous Leyden civil lawyer, Professor E.M. Meyers was commissioned to draft a new civil code. After his death in 1954, his work was continued by a triumvirate and later completed, with the exception of the books concerning special contracts. On 1 January 1970, the first book of the “new code”, hereafter referred to as NBW (Nieuw Burgerlijk Wetboek) concerning personal and family law, entered into force, followed in 1976 by Book 2, containing the new corporation law. In 1980, Books 3, 5 and 6, containing general principles of property, possession, obligation law, contract and tort, were enacted by parliament and are expected to enter into force in 1985. Equitable standards as a kind of open texture rules are not unknown in the present civil code. Concepts like “good faith” in contractual relations1 and “unlawful conduct” as a ground for tort liability2 have been given a much broader application by the judiciary in this century than in the first sixty years of the code’s existence.
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Former Vice-President of the District Court of Rotterdam, currently Professor of Civil Law at the University of Maastricht.
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Referenzen
See: sections 1374 and 1375 of the present civil code, hereafter referred to as CC.
See: Onrechtmatige daad, Kluwer, Deventer, containing a comprehensive review of case law in this field.
Hartkamp, Compendium van het Verm ö gensrecht volgens het nieuwe burgerlijk wetboek, Kluwer 1977; Schoordijk, Het algemeen gedeelte van het verbintenissenrecht naar het nieuw burgerlijk wetboek, Kluwer 1979; Hartkamp, Open normen, in het bijzonder de redelijkheid en billijkheid in het nieuw BW, WPNR 5559.
Hage, Over de betekenis van vage termen als goed trouw, redelijkheid en billijkheid, WPNR 5579.
Van Schendel, Toerekening, doorwerking, partij, WPNR 5561 et seq., p. 256.
Van Schellen, Adequaat causaal verband en toerekening naar redelijkheid, in: Non sine cause, p. 342; J.H. Nieuwenhuis, Drie beginselen van contractenrecht, Kluwer 1979, p. 40 et seq.
Hartkamp, op. cit. no. 316.
K ö ster, Causaliteit en voorzienbaarheid, Bloembergen, Schadevergoeding by onrechtma-tige daad, 1965; Van Schellen, Juridische causaliteit, Kluwer 1972.
Van Eikema Hommes, Juridische causaliteit, redelijke toerekening en enige nieuwe recht-spraak van de Hoge Raad, in: t Exempel dwinght, Zwolle 1975; Nuis, Differentiatie van de causaliteits/aansprakelijkheids criteria bij de onrechtmatige daad, WPNR 5555.
Parlementaire geschiedenis van het nieuwe burgerlijk wetboek, ad 6.1.1.2.
Hage, op.cit.
Langemeyer, De Gerechtigheid in ons burgerlijk Verm ö gensrecht,p. 111.
On the limiting force of r.a.f. see: Abas, Beperkende werking van de goede trouw, Kluwer 1972, pp. 177 – 203.
Wiarda, Drie typen van rechtsvinding, Tj. Willink 1980, p. 97 et seq.
Parlementaire geschiedenis ad 6.4.3.1.
Crombach, de Wijkerslooth; Cohen, Een theorie van rechterlijke beslissingen, especially p. 91 where the authors state that equity corresponds with the consistence of the legal system.
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© 1983 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Elders, J.L.M. (1983). Towards a System of Equitable Standards in the New Dutch Civil Code. In: Essays on International & Comparative Law. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1468-6_4
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