jurestandaard

Jurestandaard is a Dutch term used to denote a criterion or benchmark applied to evaluate legality, adequacy, or compliance under the law. It translates roughly as "legal standard" and is commonly used in Dutch-language legal scholarship to discuss the prevailing criteria that courts and legislators rely on when interpreting statutes, assessing administrative actions, or judging the conduct of private actors.

The term is not a formal, codified category in statutes. Rather, it refers to a generally accepted standard or benchmark within a given legal field, which can vary across jurisdictions and over time. Depending on the context, a jurestandaard may reflect doctrinal sources such as statutory text, case law, constitutional principles, or policy considerations.

Typical examples include the standard of care in tort law (reasonableness), the proportionality standard in human rights assessments, or the standard of review used by appellate courts when evaluating administrative decisions. In contract law, a jurestandaard might refer to the established interpretation of ambiguity, implied terms, or good faith obligations. Because the term is broad and somewhat informal, its precise meaning is context-dependent.

Critics note that the use of jurestandaard can obscure the underlying legal sources if not specified, since different fields and jurisdictions rely on distinct doctrines. As a result, it is best understood as a shorthand for the prevailing doctrinal criteria that guide legal reasoning in a particular setting.

See also: legal standard, reasonableness, proportionality, due process, statutory interpretation, case law.