Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Judiciary of Belgium

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit

The court system of Belgium is similar to the French one. Belgium however evolved from a unitary to a federal state, but the judicial system has not been adapted to a federal system.

Contents

The native names in this article are respectively Dutch and French. The German names are not mentioned.

Normal judicial system

The territory of Belgium is subdivided into 5 judicial areas (Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels, Mons and Liege), 27 judicial arrondissements and 225 judicial cantons.

Below is a summary of the court system:

The Arrondissement Court (Arrondissementsrechtbank / Tribunal d'arrondissement) handles conflicts between the Labour Court, Commercial Court and Court of First Instance where it is unclear which court is competent for the respective case.

Legal help can be obtained from a House of Justice (Justitiehuis / Maison de justice), of which there is one in each judicial arrondissement and 2 in the arrondissement of Brussels (a Dutch- and French-speaking one).

Special courts

The Constitutional Court (Grondwettelijk Hof / Cour constitutionelle) is a special court mainly for conflicts between the federal level and regional level and was created as part of the federalisation of the country.

The government of Belgium also has a lot of administrative courts, of which the Council of State (Raad van State / Conseil d'État) is the main one.

International courts

As a member state of several international organisations, their international courts also have jurisdiction in Belgium:

  • Benelux Court
  • Court of Justice of the European Union
  • European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe
  • References

    Judiciary of Belgium Wikipedia