The old library of the supreme court of the Netherlands

This book is devoted to the collection of old printed books housed in the Supreme Court’s library. This collection came into being in 1795 when the libraries of the Court of Holland and Zeeland and the Supreme Court of Holland and Zeeland were joined. A number of books from this collection were handed over to the Provincial Court of Zeeland in 1803, and in 1856 a large number of archivalia and non-legal volumes were transferred to the National Archives. This book describes the history of the Supreme Court’s old printed books and the collections to which they belonged originally. The meaning of contemporary Dutch jurisprudence and that of legal literature in the Supreme Court’s everyday practice are also discussed. The book is accompanied by a CD-ROM, containing both the 1988 catalogue of books held by the library and a transcription by Prof. De Smidt of the handwritten catalogue from 1851.