Work to be done: an inquiry concerning legal certainty in the fourth evaluation of the Dutch euthanasia act | Amsterdam University Press Journals Online
2004
Volume 45, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 0167-2444
  • E-ISSN: 2949-8651

Abstract

Abstract

Legal certainty – that is predictability of law – is not just a legal principle but also an empirical topic. And as an empirical topic legal certainty can both be a goal and a means to achieve ends (‘factual legal certainty’). As concerns the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act, these ends involve next to legal certainty, to promote social transparency and to guarantee the carefulness of ending life on request. In this article, it is argued that legal certainty has not been properly examined in the fourth evaluation of the Act. Therefore, the results that are offered by the evaluation cannot support the conclusion that the goal of legal certainty has been achieved. The article proposes to operationalize factual legal certainty as knowledge of the rules and being able to predict how the relevant government agencies will act. Such an operationalization of legal certainty has been used before (Marseille 1993). A comparison between Marseille’s findings regarding legal certainty and what is known in this respect about euthanasia supposes that legal certainty regarding euthanasia law is to be expected. The conclusion is that an examination of legal certainty is possible ánd required.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.5117/FEP2024.1.008.WEYE
2024-04-01
2024-05-04
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Delden, J.J.M. et. al., Kennis en opvattingen van publiek en professionals over medische besluitvorming en behandeling rond het einde van het leven. Het KOPPEL-onderzoek, Den Haag: ZonMW2011.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Griffiths, John, “Self-Regulation by the Dutch Medical Profession of Medical Behavior that Potentially Shortens Life”, pp. 173-191, in: HansKrabbendam and Hans-Martienten Napel (eds), Regulating Morality: A Comparison of the Role of the State in Mastering the Mores in the Netherlands and the United States, Antwerpen-Apeldoorn: Maclu, 2000.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Hartogh, Govert den, “Mysterieuze cijfers: meldingspercentage van euthanasie kan niet meer stijgen”, Medisch Contact2003: pp 1063-1066.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Hartogh, Govert den, What kind of death: the ethics of determining one’s own death, New York: Routledge, 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Heide, Agnes van der et.al., Tweede evaluatie. Wet toetsing levensbeëindiging op verzoek en hulp bij zelfdoding, Den Haag: ZonMw, 2007.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Heide. Agnes van der e.a., Vierde evaluatie. Wet toetsing levensbeëindiging op verzoek en hulp bij zelfdoding, Den Haag: ZonMw, 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Malsch, Marijke, Lawyers’ Predictions of Judicial Decisions: A Study on Calibration of Experts, Dissertation Rijksuniversiteit Leiden1989.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Marseille, A.T., Voorspelbaarheid van bestuurshandelen, Een onderzoek naar rechtsregels en beslissingen over het volgen van scholing met behoud van uitkering, Deventer: Kluwer, 1993.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Oldenziel, H.A., Wetgeving en rechtszekerheid. Een onderzoek naardebijdrage van het legaliteitsvereiste aan de rechtszekerheid van de burger, Deventer: Kluwer, 1998.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B.D., et. al., Wet toetsing levensbeëindiging op verzoek en hulp bij zelfdoding, Den Haag: ZonMw, 2007.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B.D. et. al., Wet toetsing levensbeëindiging op verzoek en hulp bij zelfdoding, Den Haag: ZonMw, 2017.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Schank, Roger C. and Robert P.Abelson, “Knowledge and Memory: The Real Story”, pp. 1-86, in: Robert S.Wyer Jr. (ed), Knowledge and Memory: the Real Story’, Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publ. 1995.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Scheltema, M., “De rechtsstaat”, pp. 11-27, in: J.W.M.Engels et. al. (red.), De rechtsstaat herdacht, Zwolle: W.E.J. Tjeenk Willink, 1989.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Wal, G. van der, Euthanasie en hulp bij zelfdoding door huisartsen, Rotterdam: WYT Uitgeefgroep, 1992.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Wal, G. van der and P.J.van der Maas, Euthanasie en andere medische beslissingen rond het levenseinde. De praktijk en de meldingsprocedure, Den Haag: Sdu Uitgevers, 1996.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Weyers, Heleen, Euthanasie. Het proces van rechtsverandering, Dissertatie Rijksuniversiteit Groningen2002.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Weyers, Heleen, Euthanasie in Nederland 2002-2022, Den Haag: Boomjuridisch, 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. WeyersHeleen and Donaldvan Tol, “Scripts, de voertuigen van kennis”, Recht der Werkelijkheid2014 (2) 24-50.
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.5117/FEP2024.1.008.WEYE
Loading
/content/journals/10.5117/FEP2024.1.008.WEYE
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error