Netherlands · Court of Appeal of The Hague
Gerechtshof Den Haag: published decisions
In 2025, Gerechtshof Den Haag (Court of Appeal of The Hague) published 1,280 decisions on rechtspraak.nl, 20% more than in 2024. That is 2% of the 64,124 decisions published by the 19 courts covered here. Of the court's decisions, 38% carry the administrative-law label and 62% the civil-law label. These counts describe published case law, not the court's caseload.
- Published decisions in 20251,280+20% over one year
- Share of the Dutch total2%of the 64,124 decisions of the 19 courts
- Administrative law38%of its decisions; civil law: 62%
- Largest detailed areaTax law485 decisions, 38% of the court's total
Decisions year by year
The chart follows the number of decisions of Gerechtshof Den Haag published on rechtspraak.nl, year by year since 2013, the first year of the current court map. The count measures what is published, not the number of cases the court handled.
In 2025, Gerechtshof Den Haag published 1,280 decisions, 20% more than in 2024. This is 2% of the 64,124 decisions published by the 19 courts, against 4.2% in 2013. Over the period, the court's yearly count of published decisions went from 993 in 2013 to 1,280 in 2025 (+29%). The yearly count ranged from 865 in 2020 to 1,280 in 2025.
| Year | Decisions | Change | Share of the 19 courts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 993 | – | 4.2% |
| 2014 | 878 | −12% | 3.6% |
| 2015 | 1,019 | +16% | 4% |
| 2016 | 1,068 | +5% | 4.2% |
| 2017 | 1,038 | −3% | 3.9% |
| 2018 | 919 | −11% | 3.3% |
| 2019 | 1,046 | +14% | 3.7% |
| 2020 | 865 | −17% | 2.4% |
| 2021 | 966 | +12% | 2.3% |
| 2022 | 913 | −5% | 2.1% |
| 2023 | 1,073 | +18% | 2.1% |
| 2024 | 1,067 | −1% | 1.9% |
| 2025 | 1,280 | +20% | 2% |
Published decisions only: the series reflects what the court publishes as well as what it decides. Series start in 2013, the first year of the current court map.
Areas of law
Each decision published on rechtspraak.nl carries area-of-law labels: broad groups (administrative law, civil law, public international law) and detailed areas. The table counts the decisions of Gerechtshof Den Haag that carry each label in 2025. A decision can carry several labels and some carry only a broad one, so the detailed areas do not add up to their group.
Of the 1,280 decisions published in 2025, 38% carry the administrative-law label and 62% the civil-law label. Among the detailed areas, tax law (485, 38%), contract and liability law (223, 17%) and family law (156, 12%) appear most often. Detailed labels are attached to only part of the decisions: the areas below carry 1,029 labels for the court's 1,280 decisions. Decisions with the tax law label numbered 485, 7% more than in 2024; they are 9.4% of the 5,173 published decisions with this label across the 19 courts.
| Area of law | Decisions 2025 | Share of the court | Change | Share of all decisions with this label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative law | 486 | 38% | +7% | 1.2% |
| Civil law | 794 | 62% | +30% | 3.1% |
| Tax law | 485 | 38% | +7% | 9.4% |
| Contract and liability law | 223 | 17% | +28% | 3.8% |
| Family law | 156 | 12% | +1% | 2.2% |
| Employment law | 41 | 3.2% | −35% | 3.8% |
| Insolvency law | 41 | 3.2% | – | 4% |
| Civil procedure | 41 | 3.2% | +28% | 7% |
| Company law | 13 | 1% | – | 4% |
| Intellectual property law | 11 | 0.9% | – | 9.1% |
| Property law | 8 | 0.6% | – | 5.6% |
| Public procurement law | 4 | 0.3% | – | 4.8% |
| Private international law | 3 | 0.2% | – | 4.6% |
| Competition law (civil) | 2 | 0.2% | – | 14% |
| European civil law | 1 | under 0.1% | – | 1.4% |
See also Tax law Contract and liability law Family law Employment law
A decision can carry several area labels and some carry only a broad one: counts of different areas cannot be added together.
Place in the court system
A court of appeal rehears cases decided by the district courts of its region. Its published decisions are set beside those of the other courts of appeal, and the route that follows from its rulings is listed.
It hears civil and tax appeals from the Rechtbank Den Haag and Rechtbank Rotterdam. Its rulings can be taken to the Hoge Raad, which reviews points of law only. In 2025, the 4 courts of appeal published 6,901 decisions in all, of which 1,280 by Gerechtshof Den Haag (19%).
| Court | Decisions 2025 | Share of the courts of appeal | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gerechtshof Arnhem-Leeuwarden | 2,679 | 39% | +9% |
| Gerechtshof Amsterdam | 1,646 | 24% | −3% |
| Gerechtshof 's-Hertogenbosch | 1,296 | 19% | −15% |
| Gerechtshof Den Haag | 1,280 | 19% | +20% |
See also Rechtbank Den Haag Rechtbank Rotterdam Gerechtshof Arnhem-Leeuwarden Gerechtshof Amsterdam Gerechtshof 's-Hertogenbosch Netherlands overview
Published decisions only: each court publishes a different share of its rulings, so these counts are not caseloads and cannot be compared as workloads.
Understanding these figures
What a court of appeal does
The Netherlands has four courts of appeal (gerechtshoven), in Amsterdam, Arnhem-Leeuwarden, The Hague and 's-Hertogenbosch. They rehear civil and tax cases decided by the district courts of their region, looking at the facts as well as the law. Their rulings can be taken to the Hoge Raad, which reviews points of law only. In 2025, Gerechtshof Den Haag published 1,280 decisions; of these, 38% carry the administrative-law label and 62% the civil-law label.
A published selection
The figures count decisions published on rechtspraak.nl, the website of the Dutch judiciary, where each decision carries a European Case Law Identifier (ECLI). Courts publish only part of their rulings, and the share published differs from one court to another, from one area of law to another and from one year to the next. The 1,280 decisions counted for Gerechtshof Den Haag in 2025 are those published; this is not a count of all the cases the court handled.
ECLI numbers and the court code
An ECLI number has the form ECLI:NL:<court code>:<year>:<number>. The decisions of Gerechtshof Den Haag carry the court code GHDHA, so their numbers begin ECLI:NL:GHDHA, followed by the year and a sequence number. With this number, any published decision of the court can be found on rechtspraak.nl.
How areas of law are labelled
Each published decision carries one or more area-of-law labels. There are three broad groups, administrative law, civil law and public international law, and, within them, detailed areas such as tax law or family law. A decision can carry several labels, and some carry only a broad one, so the detailed areas do not add up to their group and counts for different areas cannot be added together.
Reading this court's figures with care
The detailed labels of Gerechtshof Den Haag are spread over 13 areas of law, the most frequent being tax law (38% of its decisions). The count also depends on what the court publishes: a change from one year to the next may reflect a change in publication as well as in the court's work. The data hold counts only, with no outcome and no time to judgment, and no statistic can predict the outcome of a particular case.
Frequently asked questions
How many decisions did Gerechtshof Den Haag publish in 2025?
Gerechtshof Den Haag (Court of Appeal of The Hague) published 1,280 decisions on rechtspraak.nl in 2025, against 1,067 in 2024. Published decisions are a selection of all rulings, so this is not the number of cases the court handled.
Which areas of law do the published decisions of Gerechtshof Den Haag cover?
Of its published decisions, 38% carry the administrative-law label and 62% the civil-law label. The most frequent detailed areas are tax law (485), contract and liability law (223) and family law (156).
What share of the published Dutch decisions comes from Gerechtshof Den Haag?
2% of the 64,124 decisions published by the 19 courts covered here in 2025, against 4.2% in 2013.
Does this count every case handled by Gerechtshof Den Haag?
No. The figures count decisions published on rechtspraak.nl, a selection of all rulings. They do not measure the court's caseload.
Can the rulings of Gerechtshof Den Haag be appealed?
Yes, on points of law: a ruling of a court of appeal can be taken to the Hoge Raad, the Supreme Court, which does not re-examine the facts.