“The Crystal Scales of Justice” Prize

The European prize for innovative practice

contributing to the efficiency and quality of civil justice

2014 Edition

Follow-up to the Crystal Scales of Justice for the initiative:

European Courts weblog and European law newsletters, Amsterdam Court of Appeal, The Netherlands

The Amsterdam Court of Appeal in the Netherlands has been nominated for the 2014 edition of the Crystal Scales of Justice Prize with its weblog dedicated to case law from both the EU Court of Justice and the European Court of Rights in Strasbourg (European Courts weblog).

Our nomination has been welcomed by the Dutch Council for the Judiciary on it’s website (Gerechtshof Amsterdam wint Europese prijs). Gerechtshof Amsterdam wint Europese prijs

The Amsterdam weblog has been mentioned as a best practice in the report that examines the quality and effectiveness of the different Dutch courts once every 5 years (visitatierapport 2014).

The Prize has been an incentive for a joint co-operation between the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, the Euiropean Law department of Maastricht University, the Dutch Supreme Court and members of the Dutch Bar, to enhance better knowledge and understanding of European law and human rights law. In order to co-ordinate this project, Maastricht University will appoint a law professor and a post-doc researcher. One of the first projects that the Faculty of Law in Maastricht will pick up is building a database with case law from national EU judges that will be translated in English and or French. In practice it proves important to be informed about the application of EU law in other member states. This might have a positive effect on the acte clair and acte éclairé doctrine, because better understanding of EU law could diminish time consuming references to the European Court of Justice. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal, the Dutch judiciary and Maastricht University very much hope that they can work together with CEPEJ on this project in future.

We are very glad that our nomination for the Crystal Scales of Justice Prize had so much impact and positive effect.

Marc de Werd

Judge in the Amsterdam Court of Appeal

[email protected]