Law of Belgium
The law of Belgium is the sum judicially enforceable social norms in Belgium.
- 2.1 Constitutional Law
- 2.2 Tax Law
- 3.1 Company law
Legal History
Legal History to 1830
By 1830, insisted on the territory of modern state of Belgium is no single state or a single legal system. The force consisted of local customary law. An exception is the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. Legislation in the modern sense was a marginal phenomenon and existed mainly in the cities. From the 13th century, the ius commune came in the form of academic -received Roman and canon law before continue. The local customary law was accordingly not an object of scientific Desk - rarely it was ever written down. One of the few collections of customary law is the Somme Rural Frenchman Jehan Boutillier. A degree is a legal entity created in the 14th century by the possibility of recours au chef de sens to the superior courts of the respective feudal lord.
The political union by the Habsburgs in the 16th century changed the legal fragmentation at first. While the legislation had grown to up to 50 decrees per year until the 18th century; because the political unity, however, was based only on personal union, their effect was limited mostly only the relevant territorial unit. The most important decrees of this period were the Edictum perpetuum Albrecht and Isabella of 1611 and the Ordonnance sur le stile criminel of 9 Jul. 1570th One of the main criminal and civil legal scholars of the 16th century was Philip Wielant who systematized the law in force in Flanders. Joos de Damhouder translated his originally Dutch writings into Latin. Exploring the similarities between the various legal systems was mainly operated by Gudelinus, Zypaeus and Anselmo.
As a result of the First Coalition War the Austrian Netherlands were annexed by France in 1795 and the entire French law gained prestige and led abruptly to legal entity. So the five Napoleonic codifications applicable immediately in today's Belgium. After the end of French rule and the founding of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was made soon on replacing the French Civil Code by a separate civil code. After the differences between north and south seemed to have been solved in 1829, the new law should come into force on February 1, 1831. However, the Belgian revolution overtook the legal development: In 1830, the southern part of the Kingdom declared its independence: A private Belgian state was founded.
Legal history after 1830
The new Constitution of the State of Belgium came into force on February 25, 1831. She leaned heavily on the existing constitutional systems of other European States, about 40 % of the Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands were borrowed, 35 % of the charter Constitutionnelle in France by 1814, 10 % of the French Constitution of 1791 and about 5% of the British constitutional practice. The new constitution was still as innovative: In the 19th century it served the constitutions of Spain, Greece, Romania and Luxembourg as an example, in the 20th century, the constitutions of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
The Constitution provided for in Article 139 before actually that the current French codes should be replaced by your own, Belgian laws. The lack of its own legal tradition prevented this, however: The legal university education had been abolished under French rule, the Kingdom of the Netherlands therefore resorted to German lawyers. However, the revolution prevented further German influence after 1830. 1835 was set up in Brussels a new central Commission, which could exhibit only one in the whole of Belgium law diplomas. The test substance was conservative aligned with the French law and thus prevented legal innovation. The legal language remained French: This contributed to the continuing influence of the French case law and legal theory in the interpretation of the French code. Reforms and changes were usually stuck in the initial stage.
Commissioned in 1879 to François Laurent with a design for a new Civil Code, which he presented in 1883. Despite his reputation as the doyen of Belgian legal doctrine the strong anti-Catholic stamping his design prevented its implementation in the law. The new Catholic government commissioned therefore in 1884 a new Commission, however, could not submit a draft until its dissolution in 1929. After all occurred in 1867, a new Criminal Code in force, though the latter has more of a remake of the French Code Penal corresponded. In the area of commercial law, however, the rapid industrialization in Belgium forced new legal solutions. An import French law different here already, therefore, because of the industrialization process in France progressed slowly. The resulting problems first presented to the jurisdiction, which proved with some remarkable creativity as an engine of legal reform process as a result of industrialization. In the years 1851-1891 the legislation of the jurisdiction followed and gradually replaced all of the code de commerce. Another important reform area was the social and labor as a result of the first social laws 1887.
The French influence began with the beginning of the 20th century to wane, the legal culture to change. From 1876, universities were allowed to issue legal diplomas, which academic freedom has been strengthened. Against the exegetical method previously dominant, the emerging taught "scientific" method: not only the law is relied upon as a source of law but also non-legal and legal aspects of actual. The most important representatives of this scientific orientation is Adolphe Prins, after the Second World War emerged influential representations of the civil law in this tradition of Henri de Page and René Dekkers which are still in use today. Overall, however, the exegetical method remained the ruling. The influence of judicial rose: decisions of the Cour de cassation have today in practice the rank of the Parliament Act. Important reforms, which reduced strongly the influence of French law, took place in Family Law: The classic French- patriarchal system of the Civil Code was given in favor of an emancipatory, egalitarian system on. The new system was based primarily on legal-historical work on the right state before the French codes in the southern Netherlands; there discovered its own progressive Belgian family law tradition.
Were a total of only 20 jurisprudential writings published in Dutch 1830-1890, this changed soon due to the early language legislation: Since 1898, all laws in French and Dutch have to be announced. The tendency is here clearly two separate legal cultures that are defined by the language barrier. The French-speaking sphere is more strongly influenced by French law, the Flemish part of the legal systems in the Netherlands, Germany or the common law. From a Belgian law in the strict sense can therefore hardly be spoken.