Dutch
Civil Code
Book 10 Private International Law
Article 10:1 Conventions and Community legislation remain effective
The provisions of the present Book (Book 10) and of other statutory regulations
of private international law do not affect International and Community
legislation that is binding for the Netherlands.
Article 10:2 Application ex officio
The rules of private international law and the law designated by those
rules shall be applied ex officio (i.e. applied by the court of its own
motion).
Article 10:3 Dutch law of civil procedures
Dutch law shall apply to the conduct and procedure of legal proceedings
in Dutch courts.
Article 10:4 Preliminary question to be answered first
If the question which legal effects arise from a fact has to be answered
as a preliminary question in connection with another question which is
governed by foreign law, then that preliminary question shall be regarded
as a self-dependant question.
Article 10:5 Meaning of 'application of the law of a State'
The application of the law of a Sate shall mean the application of the
rules of law of that State to the exclusion of its private international
law.
Article 10:6 Conflict with Dutch public order
Foreign law shall not be applied to the extent that the application thereof
is obviously incompatible with public order.
Article 10:7 Application of special mandatory law
- 1. Provisions of special mandatory law are
provisions of which the observance is of such importance to a State for
the preservation of its public interests, such as its political, social
or economic organisation, that they must be applied to every case falling
within the scope of such provisions, regardless which law is applicable
apart from that.
- 2. The application of the law which is designated
by a conflict of law rule, shall be ignored to the extent that, in the
given case, provisions of special mandatory law of the Netherlands are
applicable.
- 3. In the application of the law which is
designated by a conflict of law rule, effect may be given to provisions
of special mandatory law of a foreign State with which the case is closely
connected. When deciding whether effect has to be given to such foreign
provisions, account is taken of the nature and intention (purpose) of
these provisions and of the outcome of the application or non-application
thereof.
Article 10:8 Close connection of a case with a State
- 1. The law that is designated by a legal
rule which itself is based on a presumed close connection with that law,
shall, by way of exception, remain inapplicable if, in view of all circumstances
of the case, the close connection presumed in that legal rule, obviously
only exists to a small extent, while there exists a much closer connection
with another law.
- 2. Paragraph 1 does not apply where parties
have made a valid choice of law.
Article 10:9 Unacceptable violation of parties’ confidence or of
legal certainty
Where a fact has certain legal effects under the law that is applicable
according to the private international law of a foreign State involved,
a Dutch court may, even when the law of that foreign State is not be applicable
according to Dutch private international law, attach the same legal effects
to that fact, as far as a non-attachment of these legal effects would
be an unacceptable violation of the parties’ justified confidence
or of legal certainty.
Article 10:10 Choice of law
To the extent that a choice of law is allowed, it must have been made
explicitly or it must appear otherwise sufficiently clear.
Article 10:11 Legal incapacity of minors
- 1. Whether a natural person is a minor (under
age) and to what extent he has the legal capacity to perform juridical
acts, shall be determined by his national law. If the person involved
possesses the nationality of more than one State and his habitual residence
is located in one of these States, then the law of that State shall be
his national law. Where his habitual residence is not located in one of
these States, then his national law shall be the law of the State of his
nationality with which he, taken into consideration all circumstances,
is most closely connected.
- 2. In regard of a more-sided (multilateral)
juridical act falling outside the scope (field of application) of the
Regulation of the European Parliament and Council of 17 June 2008 on the
Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations (‘the Rome I Regulation’),
(EC) No 593/2008, Article 17 of that Regulation shall apply accordingly
to the right to invoke the legal incapacity or legal incompetence of a
natural person who is a party to a juridical act.
Article 10:12 Juridical act subject to formal requirements
- 1. In terms of formal requirements, a juridical
act shall be valid if it meets the formal requirements of the foreign
law that is applicable to the juridical act itself or of the law of the
State where the juridical act is performed.
- 2. A juridical act performed between two
persons who find themselves in different States is, in terms of formal
requirements, valid if it meets the formal requirements of the law that
is applicable to the juridical act itself, or of the law of one of those
different States, or of the law of the State where the habitual residence
of one of the persons is located.
- 3. If the juridical act has been performed
by a representative, then a State as referred to in paragraph 1 and 2
shall mean the State where the representative finds himself at the moment
that the juridical act is performed or where his habitual residence is
located at that moment.
Article 10:13 Legal presumption and burden of proof
The law that is governing a legal relationship or legal fact, shall apply
also to the extent that it constitutes legal presumptions with respect
to that legal relationship or legal fact, or contains rules for the distribution
of the burden of proof.
Article 10:14 Prescription and existence of rights and legal claims (rights
of action)
Whether a right or legal claim (right of action) has become prescribed
or has ceased to exist, shall be determined by the law that applies to
the legal relationship from which that right or legal claim (right of
action) has arisen.
Article 10:15 More legal systems within one State
- 1. If the national law of a natural person
is applicable and the State of the nationality of the involved person
has two or more legal systems that are applicable to various categories
of people or in different territories, then the relevant rules of that
State, set for this purpose, shall determine which of those legal systems
is applicable.
- 2. If the national law of the habitual residence
of a natural person is applicable and the State of the habitual residence
of the person involved has two or more legal systems that are applicable
to various categories of people or in different territories, then the
relevant rules of that State, set for this purpose, shall determine which
of those legal systems is applicable.
- 3. Where rules as meant in paragraph 1 and
2 are not existing in a State or where they, in the given circumstances,
do not lead to a designation of an applicable legal system, the legal
system of the State shall be applied with which the person involved, taking
into account al circumstances, is most closely connected.
Article 10:16 Natural person without (an ascertained) nationality
- 1. If the national law of a natural person
is applicable and the person involved is stateless or his nationality
cannot be ascertained, the law of the State where his habitual residence
is located is deemed to be his national law.
- 2. The rights acquired by such person in
the past and which result from his civil status, in particular the rights
resulting from marriage, shall be respected.
Article 10:17 Civil status of aliens
- 1. The civil status of an alien (foreigner)
to whom a residence permit as meant in Article 28 or 33 of the Aliens
Act 2000 is granted and of an alien (foreigner) who has obtained an according
resident status in a foreign country, is governed by the law of the State
where his domicile is located or, when he has no domicile, by the law
of the State where his habitual residence is located.
- 2. The rights acquired by such alien (foreigner)
in the past and which result from his civil status, in particular the
rights resulting from marriage, shall be respected.
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