Netherlands · Rotterdam District Court
Rechtbank Rotterdam: published decisions
In 2025, Rechtbank Rotterdam (Rotterdam District Court) published 4,612 decisions on rechtspraak.nl, 15% more than in 2024. That is 7.2% of the 64,124 decisions published by the 19 courts covered here. Of the court's decisions, 26% carry the administrative-law label and 74% the civil-law label. These counts describe published case law, not the court's caseload.
- Published decisions in 20254,612+15% over one year
- Share of the Dutch total7.2%of the 64,124 decisions of the 19 courts
- Administrative law26%of its decisions; civil law: 74%
- Largest detailed areaContract and liability law1,005 decisions, 22% of the court's total
Decisions year by year
The chart follows the number of decisions of Rechtbank Rotterdam 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, Rechtbank Rotterdam published 4,612 decisions, 15% more than in 2024. This is 7.2% of the 64,124 decisions published by the 19 courts, against 3.9% in 2013. Over the period, the court's yearly count of published decisions went from 920 in 2013 to 4,612 in 2025 (+401%). The yearly count ranged from 914 in 2014 to 4,612 in 2025.
| Year | Decisions | Change | Share of the 19 courts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 920 | – | 3.9% |
| 2014 | 914 | −1% | 3.7% |
| 2015 | 967 | +6% | 3.8% |
| 2016 | 1,084 | +12% | 4.3% |
| 2017 | 1,100 | +1% | 4.2% |
| 2018 | 1,516 | +38% | 5.5% |
| 2019 | 1,387 | −9% | 4.9% |
| 2020 | 3,518 | +154% | 10% |
| 2021 | 3,901 | +11% | 9.4% |
| 2022 | 3,900 | 0% | 8.9% |
| 2023 | 3,751 | −4% | 7.2% |
| 2024 | 4,017 | +7% | 7% |
| 2025 | 4,612 | +15% | 7.2% |
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 Rechtbank Rotterdam 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 4,612 decisions published in 2025, 26% carry the administrative-law label and 74% the civil-law label. Among the detailed areas, contract and liability law (1,005, 22%), family law (877, 19%) and insolvency law (498, 11%) appear most often. Detailed labels are attached to only part of the decisions: the areas below carry 3,261 labels for the court's 4,612 decisions. Decisions with the contract and liability law label numbered 1,005, 8% more than in 2024; they are 17% of the 5,818 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 | 1,187 | 26% | +14% | 3.1% |
| Civil law | 3,426 | 74% | +15% | 14% |
| Contract and liability law | 1,005 | 22% | +8% | 17% |
| Family law | 877 | 19% | +37% | 13% |
| Insolvency law | 498 | 11% | +43% | 48% |
| Social security law | 264 | 5.7% | +25% | 6.6% |
| Employment law | 196 | 4.2% | −2% | 18% |
| Tax law | 105 | 2.3% | +2% | 2% |
| Planning and environmental law | 104 | 2.3% | +60% | 5.2% |
| Administrative procedure | 76 | 1.6% | −44% | 3% |
| Civil procedure | 75 | 1.6% | −3% | 13% |
| Company law | 22 | 0.5% | – | 6.7% |
| Property law | 14 | 0.3% | – | 10% |
| Immigration law | 6 | 0.1% | – | under 0.1% |
| Private international law | 5 | 0.1% | – | 7.7% |
| Intellectual property law | 4 | under 0.1% | – | 3.3% |
| Public procurement law | 4 | under 0.1% | – | 4.8% |
| European civil law | 3 | under 0.1% | – | 4.1% |
| Competition law (civil) | 1 | under 0.1% | – | 7.1% |
| European administrative law | 1 | under 0.1% | – | 33% |
| Competition law (administrative) | 1 | under 0.1% | – | 33% |
See also Contract and liability law Family law Insolvency law Social security 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 district court is the first court to hear most cases. Its published decisions are set beside those of the other district courts, and the appeal routes that follow from its rulings are listed.
Civil and tax appeals against its rulings go to the Court of Appeal of The Hague. Administrative appeals go to the Council of State (immigration, planning and environment and most other subjects), the Central Appeals Tribunal (social security and civil service) or the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (economic regulation), depending on the subject. In 2025, the 11 district courts published 48,101 decisions in all, of which 4,612 by Rechtbank Rotterdam (10%).
| Court | Decisions 2025 | Share of the district courts | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rechtbank Den Haag | 18,443 | 38% | +23% |
| Rechtbank Zeeland-West-Brabant | 6,076 | 13% | +1% |
| Rechtbank Midden-Nederland | 5,140 | 11% | +12% |
| Rechtbank Rotterdam | 4,612 | 10% | +15% |
| Rechtbank Noord-Holland | 3,548 | 7.4% | +24% |
| Rechtbank Amsterdam | 2,744 | 5.7% | +27% |
| Rechtbank Gelderland | 2,079 | 4.3% | +17% |
| Rechtbank Overijssel | 1,640 | 3.4% | +15% |
| Rechtbank Limburg | 1,463 | 3% | −3% |
| Rechtbank Noord-Nederland | 1,282 | 2.7% | +33% |
| Rechtbank Oost-Brabant | 1,074 | 2.2% | +30% |
See also Gerechtshof Den Haag Rechtbank Den Haag Rechtbank Zeeland-West-Brabant Rechtbank Midden-Nederland Rechtbank Noord-Holland 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 district court does
The Netherlands has 11 district courts (rechtbanken), each covering a region. They are the courts of first instance for most cases and are organised in sectors by type of case. A subdistrict sector deals with smaller civil claims and with disputes such as employment and tenancy cases. Rulings in civil and tax cases can be appealed to a court of appeal; in immigration, planning and most other administrative cases, to the Council of State; in social security and civil service cases, to the Central Appeals Tribunal. In 2025, Rechtbank Rotterdam published 4,612 decisions; of these, 26% carry the administrative-law label and 74% 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 4,612 decisions counted for Rechtbank Rotterdam 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 Rechtbank Rotterdam carry the court code RBROT, so their numbers begin ECLI:NL:RBROT, 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 Rechtbank Rotterdam are spread over 19 areas of law, the most frequent being contract and liability law (22% 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 Rechtbank Rotterdam publish in 2025?
Rechtbank Rotterdam (Rotterdam District Court) published 4,612 decisions on rechtspraak.nl in 2025, against 4,017 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 Rechtbank Rotterdam cover?
Of its published decisions, 26% carry the administrative-law label and 74% the civil-law label. The most frequent detailed areas are contract and liability law (1,005), family law (877) and insolvency law (498).
What share of the published Dutch decisions comes from Rechtbank Rotterdam?
7.2% of the 64,124 decisions published by the 19 courts covered here in 2025, against 3.9% in 2013.
Does this count every case handled by Rechtbank Rotterdam?
No. The figures count decisions published on rechtspraak.nl, a selection of all rulings. They do not measure the court's caseload.
Where do appeals against the rulings of Rechtbank Rotterdam go?
Civil and tax appeals go to the Gerechtshof Den Haag. Administrative appeals go to the Council of State, the Central Appeals Tribunal or the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal, depending on the subject.