Inaugurating a Dutch Napoleon? Conservative Criticism of the 1815 Constitution of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
Frederik Dhondt
In: Müßig U. (eds) Reconsidering Constitutional Formation II Decisive Constitutional Normativity. Studies in the History of Law and Justice, vol 12. Springer

Abstract

The 1815 constitution of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands established a deferential control on the sovereign power to declare war and conclude treaties. Following articles 57 and 58, international agreements could be concluded and ratified by the monarch, save for peacetime cessions of territory. The constitutional committee’s debates treat the matter rather hastily. William I (1772–1843)’s role at the establishment of the Kingdom of the United Netherlands had been so decisive, that the advent of a less qualified successor seemed inconceivable. The monarch personified the common interest. Foreign policy, the privileged terrain of princes and diplomats, was judged unsuitable for domestic political bickering. Finally, the Estates Generals’ budgetary powers were seen as an indirect brake on potential royal martial ardours. The incidental objections formulated by Jan Jozef Raepsaet, a Southern conservative publicist, show the more structural deficiencies of the constitution as a pact between the monarch and the nation. Leaning both on feudal law and law of nations doctrine, Raepsaet demonstrated how William I had been dressed in Napoleon’s clothes. The King had a nearly unchecked competence in foreign affairs, beyond the usual Old Regime safeguards, contrary to Enlightenment criticism of autocratic rule. John Gilissen aptly labeled William I as a “monocrat”. Vattel or Pufendorf’s opinion on the ruler as a mere usufructuary seemed to have evaporated. Raepsaet’s arguments on the inconsistent nature of Art. 57 and 58 are echoed in the 1831 Belgian constitution’s Art. 67—subjecting most treaties to parliamentary consent—as well in Thorbecke’s criticism of the document.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-73037-0_6