Rijksuniversiteit Groningen - Netherlands Academy for Empirical Legal Studies

Tollenaar", Älbertjan

Hoe de menselijke maat in het sociaal domein wordt vermalen door de trias politica Journal Article

In: Sociaalweb, 2021.

Verheij", Ä. J.

Bescherming zwakke partijen door beperkte uitleg van het finaal kwijtingsbeding? Journal Article

In: Verkeersrecht, vol. 69, no. 12, pp. 375–376, 2020, ISSN: 1574-4523.

Verheij", Ä. J.

Waarom de Hoge Raad in 1958 de correctie Langemeijer niet heeft erkend: Een correctie van de correctie Langmeijer Journal Article

In: Nederlands Juristenblad NJB, vol. 95, no. 44, pp. 3368–3377, 2020, ISSN: 0165-0483.

Verheij", Älbert

De Wet afwikkeling massaschade in collectieve actie en de begroting van personenschade Journal Article

In: Verkeersrecht, vol. 69, no. 11, pp. 333–338, 2020, ISSN: 1574-4523.

Graaf, Gjalt; Hertogh, Marc

Policy Research Under Pressure: The Case of the Ministry of Justice in the Netherlands Journal Article

In: Journal of European Public Policy, 2020, ISSN: 1350-1763.

de Jager, Carien; Pavillon, Charlotte

Consumentenrecht: Consumentenbescherming door informatie Book Chapter

In: Bijleveld, Catrien; Akkermans, Arno; Malsch, Marijke; Marseille, Bert; Smit, Monika (Ed.): Nederlandse Encyclopedie Empirical Legal Studies, pp. 293–330, Boom Juridisch, 2020, ISBN: 9789462908369.

Schmitz, Benedikt; Pavillon, Charlotte

Measuring Transparency in Consumer Contracts: The Usefulness of Readability Formulas Empirically Assessed Journal Article

In: Journal of European Consumer and Market Law, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 191–200, 2020, ISSN: 2364-4710.

@article{d21779089f6a4bfc838f9983e0702cae,

title = {Measuring Transparency in Consumer Contracts: The Usefulness of Readability Formulas Empirically Assessed},

author = {Benedikt Schmitz and Charlotte Pavillon},

issn = {2364-4710},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-10-19},

journal = {Journal of European Consumer and Market Law},

volume = {9},

number = {5},

pages = {191--200},

publisher = {Kluwer Law Online},

abstract = {Ärticle 5 of the Unfair Contract Terms Directive requires terms in consumer contracts to be textquoteleftdrafted in plain, intelligible languagetextquoteright. The European Court of Justice has ruled on several occasions that transparency essentially equates to textquoteleftforeseeabilitytextquoteright: if a termtextquoterights legal consequences can be foreseen by the average consumer, it is transparent. Foreseeability therefore requires, so we hypothesise, that the legal effects of terms are comprehensible. Terms are comprehensible if they are plain and intelligible, which means that they are readable. Courts struggle with this transparency test and some authors call for an empirical approach. We wonder whether empirically tested readability formulas could help legal professionals answer this call, albeit in a more efficient, less time-consuming way. An obvious method to assess foreseeability would consist in the application of a readability formula. In this paper we focus on readability formulas, more specifically on the Flesch readability formula. We also devise our own formula, one that is specifically geared towards legalese. We then test both formulas – the Flesch formula and our own – empirically in order to evaluate their usefulness. Since we wish to address legal effects in a broad sense (without restricting ourselves to financial consequences) we opted to assess the foreseeability of general terms and conditions in gaming contracts. These terms and conditions have recently been criticised for being detrimental to the consumer (in the French Steam-case). Our main findings are threefold. Our first conclusion is that the Flesch readability formula cannot indicate whether terms are foreseeable. Second, our revised formula also failed the test. There is no correlation between readability as assessed by either formula and the actual comprehensibility of the terms. Third, we found that the legal effects of the terms and conditions in gaming contracts we presented to our participants (96) are understood well and are thus foreseeable."},

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Ärticle 5 of the Unfair Contract Terms Directive requires terms in consumer contracts to be textquoteleftdrafted in plain, intelligible languagetextquoteright. The European Court of Justice has ruled on several occasions that transparency essentially equates to textquoteleftforeseeabilitytextquoteright: if a termtextquoterights legal consequences can be foreseen by the average consumer, it is transparent. Foreseeability therefore requires, so we hypothesise, that the legal effects of terms are comprehensible. Terms are comprehensible if they are plain and intelligible, which means that they are readable. Courts struggle with this transparency test and some authors call for an empirical approach. We wonder whether empirically tested readability formulas could help legal professionals answer this call, albeit in a more efficient, less time-consuming way. An obvious method to assess foreseeability would consist in the application of a readability formula. In this paper we focus on readability formulas, more specifically on the Flesch readability formula. We also devise our own formula, one that is specifically geared towards legalese. We then test both formulas – the Flesch formula and our own – empirically in order to evaluate their usefulness. Since we wish to address legal effects in a broad sense (without restricting ourselves to financial consequences) we opted to assess the foreseeability of general terms and conditions in gaming contracts. These terms and conditions have recently been criticised for being detrimental to the consumer (in the French Steam-case). Our main findings are threefold. Our first conclusion is that the Flesch readability formula cannot indicate whether terms are foreseeable. Second, our revised formula also failed the test. There is no correlation between readability as assessed by either formula and the actual comprehensibility of the terms. Third, we found that the legal effects of the terms and conditions in gaming contracts we presented to our participants (96) are understood well and are thus foreseeable."

Verheij", Älbert

Voor de rechtbank staat een been: Over de aard en de taak van de rechtswetenschap Journal Article

In: Nederlands Juristenblad NJB, vol. 95, no. 30, pp. 2228–2236, 2020, ISSN: 0165-0483.

Bex-Reimert, V. M.; Marseille, A. T.; Wever, M.; Winter, H. B.; Winter, P.

Evaluatie wijziging van de Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap in het belang van de nationale veiligheid Book

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen - Faculteit der rechtsgeleerdheid, 2020.

Bruijn, Larissa Michelle; Vols, Michel

Upperdogs versus Underdogs: Judicial Review of Administrative Drug-Related Closure Cases in the Netherlands Journal Article

In: Recht der Werkelijkheid, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 25–49, 2020, ISSN: 1380-6424.

Hertogh, Marc; Halliday, Simon

On Legal Consciousness, Legal Alienation and Friendship Miscellaneous

2020.

Pavillon, Charlotte

Geen loterij zonder nieten: Sancties in het consumentenrecht anno 2020 Book

Boom Juridisch, 2020, ISBN: 9789462908109.

Verheij", Älbert

EBI-arrest: een nieuwe koers: De Hoge Raad zet in EBI-arrest nieuw koers in met betrekking tot vergoeding van immateriële schade buiten fysiek en geestelijk letsel - maar waarom Journal Article

In: Nederlands Juristenblad NJB, vol. 95, no. 12, pp. 824–831, 2020, ISSN: 0165-0483.

Winter, Paulien

Regels in de praktijk: Handhaving van socialezekerheidswetgeving Journal Article

In: Ärs Aequi", vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 303–307, 2020, ISSN: 0004-2870.

Hertogh, Marc

Sociology of the Living Law: Exploring the Other Hemisphere of the Legal World Book Chapter

In: rí Pv ribáv n, Jiv (Ed.): Research Handbook on the Sociology of Law, pp. 124–135, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020, ISBN: 9781789905175.

Verheij", Älbert

Wet afwikkeling massaschade in collectieve actie en begroting van personenschade Book Chapter

In: Hartlief, T.; Kolder, A.; Rijnhout, R.; Verheij, A. J.; Hebly, M. R.; Wijne, R. P.; Schröder, M. L. F. F. (Ed.): LSA revisited, pp. 133–150, Boom Juridische uitgevers, 2020, ISBN: 9789462908147.

Marseille, Ä. T.; Smit, M.; Akkermans, A. J; Bijleveld, C. C. J. H.; Malsch", M.

Empirical Legal Studies in Nederland: Tussenstand en toekomst Journal Article

In: Nederlands Juristenblad NJB, vol. 2020, no. 36, pp. 2767–2773, 2020, ISSN: 0165-0483.

Fournet, Caroline

'Face to face with horror': The Tomav sica Mass Grave and the Trial of Ratko Mladi'c Journal Article

In: Human Remains and Violence, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 23–41, 2020, ISSN: 2054-2240.

Winter, Paulien; Hertogh, Marc

Slimme Handhaving in de praktijk Book

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 2020.

Verstappen, L. C. A.

Notariaat Book Chapter

In: Bijleveld, Catrien; Akkermans, Arno; Malsch, Marijke; Marseille, Bert; Smit, Monika (Ed.): Nederlandse Encyclopedie Empirical Legal Studies, pp. 185–213, Boom Juridische uitgevers, 2020, ISBN: 9789462908369.

Marseille, Bert

Beroep Book Chapter

In: Bijleveld, Catrien; Akkermans, Arno; Malsch, Marijke; Marseille, Bert; Smit, Monika (Ed.): Nederlandse Encyclopedie Empirical Legal Studies, pp. 497–532, Boom Juridisch, 2020, ISBN: 978-94-6290-836-9.

Winter, Paulien

Handhaving van de bijstandsregels: Uitvoerders zoeken ruimte voor eigen keuzes Book Chapter

In: Kampen, Thomas; Sebrechts, Melissa; Knijn, Trudie; Tonkens, Evelien (Ed.): Streng maar onrechtvaardig, pp. 115–128, Üitgeverij en boekhandel van Gennep bv", 2020, ISBN: 9789461645289.

Breederveld, B.; Lieber, J. H.; Verstappen, L. C. A.

Naar een efficiëntere rechtsbedeling Book

Wolters Kluwer, 2020, ISBN: 9789013160048.

Mein, Ärnt; Marseille", Bert

De bezwaarmaker gehoord: Een zoektocht naar responsiviteit in de bezwaarpraktijk Journal Article

In: Tijdschrift voor Klachtrecht, vol. 2020, no. 2, pp. 3–7, 2020, ISSN: 0167-7179.

Fournet, Caroline

The Concept of Race in International Criminal Law by Carola Lingaas, Routledge, 2019 Journal Article

In: Nordic Journal of Human Rights, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 246–249, 2020, ISSN: 1891-8131.

Smit, Monika; Marseille, Bert; Akkermans, Arno; Malsch, Marijke; Bijleveld, Catrien

25 jaar empirisch-juridisch onderzoek in Nederland: Een inleiding tot de Encyclopedie ELS Book Chapter

In: Bijleveld, Catrien; Akkermans, Arno; Malsch, Marijke; Marseille, Bert; Smit, Monika (Ed.): Nederlandse Encyclopedie Empirical Legal Studies, pp. 11–20, Boom Juridisch, 2020, ISBN: 978-94-6290-836-9.

Fournet, Caroline

Forensic evidence in atrocity trials: A risky sampling strategy? Journal Article

In: Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, vol. 69, pp. 1–6, 2020, ISSN: 1878-7487.

Fournet, Caroline

Medical Evidence at the International Criminal Court – Dosage and Contraindications Book Chapter

In: Fournet, Caroline; Matwijkiw, Anja (Ed.): Biolaw and International Criminal Law, pp. 364–386, Brill / Nijhoff, 2020, ISBN: 978-90-04-36443-1.

Winter, Paulien; Hertogh, Marc

Public Servants at the Regulatory Front Lines: Street-Level Enforcement in Theory and Practice Book Chapter

In: Sullivan, Helen; Dickinson, Helen; Henderson, Hayley (Ed.): The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant, Palgrave MacMillan, 2020.

@inbook{f517faaf34294290b77b11fe7f23d3cc,

title = {Public Servants at the Regulatory Front Lines: Street-Level Enforcement in Theory and Practice},

author = {Paulien Winter and Marc Hertogh},

editor = {Helen Sullivan and Helen Dickinson and Hayley Henderson},

doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-03008-7_4-1},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-01-01},

booktitle = {The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant},

publisher = {Palgrave MacMillan},

abstract = {This chapter focuses on the central role of public servants in street-level enforcement. The central aim is to contribute to the understanding of “street-level enforcement” (De Boer, Street-level enforcement style: A multidimensional measurement instrument. International Journal of Public Administration 42 (5): 380–391, 2019) in theory and practice. To analyze the important work of public servants at the regulatory frontlines, we use two conceptual lenses. To illustrate the different theoretical concepts, and to assess some of the strengths and weaknesses of the literature, both conceptual lenses will be applied in a case study about the enforcement of welfare laws in the Netherlands. The first lens is the concept of “street-level bureaucracy.” Lipsky (Street-level bureaucracy. Dilemmas of the individual in public services. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1980) famously argued that the decisions of street-level bureaucrats, and the routines that they establish, effectively become the public policies they carry out. This chapter shows that this not only applies to public servants who are involved in policy implementation, but also to those working in the field of regulatory enforcement. The Dutch case shows, for example, that a punitive law like the “Welfare Fraud Act” does not automatically lead to strict and punitive enforcement. The second lens that we use is the concept of the regulatory “enforcement style.” Based on how public servants apply the rules and how they respond to rule violations, we were able to get a more detailed understanding of how public officials act in their daily contacts with clients. In the Dutch case, public servants use three enforcement styles: strict punishment, flexible punishment, and flexible persuasion. Finally, based on this review of the literature and the findings from the case study, the chapter will discuss several future challenges for both practitioners and students in the field of street-level enforcement.},

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This chapter focuses on the central role of public servants in street-level enforcement. The central aim is to contribute to the understanding of “street-level enforcement” (De Boer, Street-level enforcement style: A multidimensional measurement instrument. International Journal of Public Administration 42 (5): 380–391, 2019) in theory and practice. To analyze the important work of public servants at the regulatory frontlines, we use two conceptual lenses. To illustrate the different theoretical concepts, and to assess some of the strengths and weaknesses of the literature, both conceptual lenses will be applied in a case study about the enforcement of welfare laws in the Netherlands. The first lens is the concept of “street-level bureaucracy.” Lipsky (Street-level bureaucracy. Dilemmas of the individual in public services. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1980) famously argued that the decisions of street-level bureaucrats, and the routines that they establish, effectively become the public policies they carry out. This chapter shows that this not only applies to public servants who are involved in policy implementation, but also to those working in the field of regulatory enforcement. The Dutch case shows, for example, that a punitive law like the “Welfare Fraud Act” does not automatically lead to strict and punitive enforcement. The second lens that we use is the concept of the regulatory “enforcement style.” Based on how public servants apply the rules and how they respond to rule violations, we were able to get a more detailed understanding of how public officials act in their daily contacts with clients. In the Dutch case, public servants use three enforcement styles: strict punishment, flexible punishment, and flexible persuasion. Finally, based on this review of the literature and the findings from the case study, the chapter will discuss several future challenges for both practitioners and students in the field of street-level enforcement.

Althoff, Martina; Wagen, Wytske; Swaaningen, René

Identitätsbildung im digitalen Zeitalter: Hacking und der Labeling Approach Book Chapter

In: Rüdiger, Thomas-Gabriel; Bayerl, Petra Saskia (Ed.): Cyberkriminologie, pp. 449–474, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/Springer Fachmedien, 2020, ISBN: 978-3-658-28506-7.

Hertogh, Marc

Klachtrecht en de Nationale ombudsman Book Chapter

In: Bijleveld, Catrien; Akkermans, Arno; Malsch, Marijke; Marseille, Bert; Smit, Monika (Ed.): Nederlandse Encyclopedie Empirical Legal Studies, pp. 533–561, Boom Juridisch, 2020, ISBN: 9789462908369.

Hertogh, Marc

'Let op! Hier wordt gehandhaafd': Handhavingsonderzoek in vier decennia Recht der Werkelijkheid Journal Article

In: Recht der Werkelijkheid, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 95–104, 2020, ISSN: 1380-6424.

Bijleveld, Catrien; Akkermans, Arno; Malsch, Marijke; Marseille, Bert; Smit, Monika (Ed.)

Nederlandse Encyclopedie Empirical Legal Studies Book

Boom Juridisch, 2020, ISBN: 978-94-6290-836-9.

Jager, Carien

De ervaringen met het informeren van consumenten door middel van een informatiedocument over financiële producten in kaart gebracht Journal Article

In: Tijdschrift Financieel Recht in de Praktijk, vol. 2020, no. 4, pp. 31–37, 2020, ISSN: 2405-6340.

Hertogh, M. L. M.; Peters, M. M. C. G.; Zande, A. N.; Graaf, G.

Ongemakkelijk onderzoek: Naar een betere balans in de relatie tussen WODC en beleid Book

Önderzoekscommissie WODC II, 2019.

Verheij", Älbert

De hoogte van smartengeld: een vergelijking tussen Nederland en Duitsland Book Chapter

In: Donkerlo, Machteld (Ed.): Smartengeld, pp. 6–10, ÄNWB", 24, 2019, ISBN: 978-90-814175-9-4.

Marseille, Bert; Wever, Marc

Snelheid, maatwerk en finaliteit in bestuursrechtelijke procedures bij de rechtbank Journal Article

In: Nederlands Juristenblad NJB, vol. 2019, no. 41, pp. 3080–3090, 2019, ISSN: 0165-0483.

Jager, C. E.

Essentiële Beleggersinformatie zo begrijpelijk voor consumenten als de Europese wetgever beoogt? Een tekstuele analyse van tien documenten Journal Article

In: Tijdschrift voor Consumentenrecht & Handelspraktijken, vol. 2019, no. 2, pp. 53–65, 2019, ISSN: 1877-4059.

Mein, Ä. G.; Marseille", A. T

Responsieve bezwaarbehandeling in theorie en praktijk Journal Article

In: Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Bestuursrecht, vol. 2019, no. 8, pp. 365–371, 2019, ISSN: 0921-3554.

Graaf, K. J.; Marseille, A. T.; Wever, M.

Een buitengerechtelijke procedure voor zuivere bestuursgeschillen? Journal Article

In: Tijdschrift voor Omgevingsrecht, vol. 2019, no. 1, pp. 21–30, 2019, ISSN: 1568-5012.

Jager, C. E.

Tekstuele analyse op basis van het CCC-model Book

Paris, 2019.

Hertogh, Marc

Wat is de staat van de rechtsstaat? De meerwaarde van empirisch-juridisch onderzoek Journal Article

In: Ärs Aequi", vol. 68, no. 9, pp. 630–632, 2019, ISSN: 0004-2870.