The Netherlands

Dutch homicide law draws a sharp line between offences in which the death of another person is the intended result of certain conduct and offences in which death is an unintended result. Before the Dutch Penal Code came into force (1886), the core source of Dutch substantive criminal law had been the French Code Penal. This law book had been introduced in The Netherlands in 1811 by Napoleon Bonaparte, and continued in force after the end of the French occupation in 1813. In Dutch criminal law, the protection of life through the homicide offences starts at a certain pregnancy period. Medical end-of-life decisions may in Dutch criminal law be treated in different ways, depending on the circumstances. Dutch criminal law accepts the concept of homicide by omission. The Dutch offence description of murder is essentially the same as the description of voluntary homicide, but with the added element of premeditation.