An appeal is the hearing of a civil case at second instance by the court of appeal. The court reconsiders the case within the boundaries the parties draw with their grounds of appeal, and in doing so also corrects errors of the first court.
Legal basis
Article 332 of the Dutch Code of Civil Procedure opens the appeal but excludes it for claims not exceeding 1,750 euros. Article 339 sets the period at three months from judgment; for preliminary relief the period is four weeks. Article 347 limits the debate in principle to two written rounds. Supreme Court case law establishes the two-statement rule: new grounds and any amendment of claim must be raised at the latest in the statement of grounds or the statement of defence, subject to exceptions such as unequivocal consent of the other party or new facts. The devolutive effect means that defences left undecided at first instance come up again on appeal once a ground succeeds.
How it works in practice
The appeal begins with a writ, after which the grounds follow in the statement of grounds. Those grounds must make sufficiently clear what is wrong with the judgment and why; a general complaint that the judgment is incorrect will not do. Because judgments are normally provisionally enforceable, a party wishing to halt enforcement must bring a separate interlocutory application for a stay under Article 351.
Where it goes wrong
The deadline is missed because it runs from the date of judgment rather than service. A second error is saving the best argument for the final round, which the two-statement rule penalises. Third, a stay is not applied for, so that the other party has enforced the judgment in the meantime.
Related terms
An appeal follows writ of summons proceedings or preliminary relief proceedings, and connects to the burden of proof.
Considering an appeal against a judgment? Our civil law specialists assess the prospects within the deadline.
