Topic summary
Belgian law
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Law of Belgium.
Constitution
Belgium became independent in 1830 after the Belgian Revolution. The constitution of Belgium was officially proclaimed by the first Belgian parliament by means of the Belgian Constitutional Act. Belgium's legal system was exclusively in French. The majority of sources were from the constitution of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands or copied from French texts. The new constitution of Belgium was not significantly different from these original sources. Thus, some Belgian lawyers have claimed that "the 1831 constitution cannot be seen as the product of a 'Belgian' legal tradition". The Belgian constitutional law enacted in 1830 mainly included the fundamental rights of the population. The constitution can only be amended by first dissolving the existing Parliament and electing new members. Amendments require the assent of two-thirds of the members of both houses of Parliament who are present at their respective sitting (the Chamber and the Senate).