Netherlands · Area of law · Verbintenissenrecht
Contract and liability law in the Netherlands: published decisions
In 2025, 5,818 published decisions carry the contract and liability law label (Verbintenissenrecht) in the Netherlands, 13% more than in 2024. They come from 14 of the 19 courts, and Rechtbank Noord-Holland accounts for 29% of them. Together they make up 9.1% of the decisions published that year. These counts describe published case law, not the number of cases brought.
- Published decisions in 20255,818+13% over one year
- Share of all published decisions9.1%of the 64,124 decisions of the 19 courts
- Courts with decisions14 of 1910 district courts, 3 courts of appeal, 1 highest court
- Largest countRechtbank Noord-Holland1,681 decisions, 29% of this area
Courts publishing these decisions
The table lists the courts whose published decisions in 2025 carry the contract and liability law label, with the number of decisions, the share of all decisions with this label and the weight of this area in each court's own published decisions.
In 2025, 5,818 published decisions carry this label, 13% more than in 2024, from 14 of the 19 courts. Rechtbank Noord-Holland accounts for 1,681 (29%), followed by Rechtbank Rotterdam (1,005) and Rechtbank Amsterdam (732). By level, district courts account for 90%, courts of appeal for 8.4% and the highest courts for 1.1%.
| Court | Level | Decisions 2025 | Share of this area | Share of the court's decisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rechtbank Noord-Holland | District court | 1,681 | 29% | 47% |
| Rechtbank Rotterdam | District court | 1,005 | 17% | 22% |
| Rechtbank Amsterdam | District court | 732 | 13% | 27% |
| Rechtbank Zeeland-West-Brabant | District court | 710 | 12% | 12% |
| Rechtbank Midden-Nederland | District court | 386 | 6.6% | 7.5% |
| Rechtbank Den Haag | District court | 381 | 6.5% | 2.1% |
| Rechtbank Gelderland | District court | 275 | 4.7% | 13% |
| Gerechtshof 's-Hertogenbosch | Court of appeal | 267 | 4.6% | 21% |
| Gerechtshof Den Haag | Court of appeal | 223 | 3.8% | 17% |
| Hoge Raad | Supreme Court | 65 | 1.1% | 6.6% |
| Rechtbank Limburg | District court | 58 | 1% | 4% |
| Rechtbank Noord-Nederland | District court | 28 | 0.5% | 2.2% |
| Rechtbank Oost-Brabant | District court | 6 | 0.1% | 0.6% |
| Gerechtshof Arnhem-Leeuwarden | Court of appeal | 1 | under 0.1% | under 0.1% |
Published decisions only: each court publishes a different share of its rulings, so these counts are not caseloads and cannot be compared as workloads.
Decisions year by year
This chart follows, year by year, the number of published decisions that carry the contract and liability law label. The volume measures what is published, not the number of cases brought in the same year.
Over the period, the number of published contract and liability law decisions went from 127 in 2013 to 5,818 in 2025. These decisions were 9.1% of all published decisions in 2025 and 0.5% in 2013.
- District courts
- Courts of appeal
- Highest courts
| Year | District courts | Courts of appeal | Highest courts | Total | Share of all decisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 53 | 74 | 0 | 127 | 0.5% |
| 2014 | 104 | 57 | 0 | 161 | 0.7% |
| 2015 | 260 | 283 | 1 | 544 | 2.1% |
| 2016 | 318 | 222 | 0 | 540 | 2.1% |
| 2017 | 849 | 199 | 0 | 1,048 | 4% |
| 2018 | 789 | 210 | 9 | 1,008 | 3.6% |
| 2019 | 741 | 324 | 44 | 1,109 | 3.9% |
| 2020 | 1,406 | 368 | 44 | 1,818 | 5% |
| 2021 | 1,898 | 418 | 47 | 2,363 | 5.7% |
| 2022 | 3,056 | 562 | 37 | 3,655 | 8.3% |
| 2023 | 4,188 | 513 | 47 | 4,748 | 9.2% |
| 2024 | 4,638 | 458 | 58 | 5,154 | 9% |
| 2025 | 5,262 | 491 | 65 | 5,818 | 9.1% |
Series start in 2013, the first year of the current court map. The series reflect what courts publish and how decisions are labelled as well as what they decide.
Related areas
Each detailed area belongs to one of three broad groups of areas of law. The table sets contract and liability law beside the group it belongs to and the other detailed areas of that group.
Contract and liability law decisions are 23% of the 25,207 published in 2025 under the civil law label. Other detailed areas of the group include family law (7,005), employment law (1,089) and insolvency law (1,037).
| Area of law | Decisions 2025 | Share of the group | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civil law | 25,207 | – | +14% |
| Contract and liability law | 5,818 | 23% | +13% |
| Family law | 7,005 | 28% | +15% |
| Employment law | 1,089 | 4.3% | +4% |
| Insolvency law | 1,037 | 4.1% | +49% |
| Civil procedure | 589 | 2.3% | −1% |
| Company law | 326 | 1.3% | −2% |
| Property law | 142 | 0.6% | −2% |
| Intellectual property law | 121 | 0.5% | −1% |
| Public procurement law | 84 | 0.3% | +25% |
| European civil law | 74 | 0.3% | +131% |
| Private international law | 65 | 0.3% | +81% |
| Competition law (civil) | 14 | under 0.1% | – |
A decision can carry several labels, so the detailed areas do not add up to the group.
Understanding these figures
What contract and liability law covers
The law of obligations covers the duties that arise between parties, mainly from contracts and from liability for damage: breach of contract, payment claims, consumer contracts, claims for damages and wrongful acts. In 2025, 5,818 published decisions carried this label.
Which courts hear these cases
Civil cases begin in a district court, whose subdistrict sector deals with smaller claims. Appeals go to a court of appeal, and the Hoge Raad rules in cassation on points of law. In 2025, published decisions with this label came from 14 of the 19 courts.
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. For contract and liability law, the published decisions of 2025 are those counted; they are not the number of cases brought.
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 these figures with care
The number of published contract and liability law decisions depends on how many cases reach the courts and on what the courts publish in this field. In 2025, Rechtbank Noord-Holland alone published 29% of them, and the decisions come from 14 courts. The number of detailed area labels per published decision went from 0.46 in 2013 to 0.73 in 2025, so the evolution of a detailed area also reflects how often these labels are applied. 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 contract and liability law decisions were published in the Netherlands in 2025?
In 2025, 5,818 decisions published on rechtspraak.nl carried the contract and liability law label, 13% more than in 2024. They come from 14 of the 19 courts covered here and make up 9.1% of all decisions published that year.
Which Dutch courts publish contract and liability law decisions?
In 2025, Rechtbank Noord-Holland published 1,681 of them, followed by Rechtbank Rotterdam (1,005) and Rechtbank Amsterdam (732). District courts account for 90% of the decisions, courts of appeal for 8.4% and the highest courts for 1.1%.
Has the number of published contract and liability law decisions changed over time?
The number of published contract and liability law decisions went from 127 in 2013 to 5,818 in 2025. Their share of all published decisions went from 0.5% in 2013 to 9.1% in 2025.
What does contract and liability law cover?
The law of obligations covers the duties that arise between parties, mainly from contracts and from liability for damage: breach of contract, payment claims, consumer contracts, claims for damages and wrongful acts.
Do these figures show how many contract and liability law cases are brought?
No. They count decisions published on rechtspraak.nl, a selection of all rulings, and a case can produce several decisions. The counts describe published case law, not the number of cases brought.