Cour de cassation · Hof van Cassatie · Kassationshof
The Court in brief
Official name
Cour de cassation de Belgique · Hof van Cassatie van België · Kassationshof von Belgien
Established
1832 (installed on 15 October 1832)
First President
Eric de Formanoir de la Cazerie, since 19 April 2024
Judges
30 (the First President, the President, six section presidents and twenty-two judges); three chambers, each divided into a French-language and a Dutch-language section
Jurisdiction
Cassation in civil, tax, economic, criminal and social matters, and other specific competences
Seat
Palais de Justice, place Poelaert 1, 1000 Brussels
Court website · Annual report · Case-law database · Search via the Common Portal
What does the Court do?
There is one Court of Cassation for the whole of Belgium. It is the supreme court of the judicial order, which comprises the justices of the peace and police courts, the courts of first instance, the labour courts and the enterprise courts, and the five courts of appeal and labour courts of appeal. Administrative litigation belongs to a separate order whose supreme court is the Council of State. The review of the constitutionality of laws belongs to the Constitutional Court.
The Court does not examine the merits of cases. When an appeal is brought before it against a decision given at last instance, it verifies whether that decision complies with the law and whether the substantive formalities, or those prescribed on pain of nullity, have been observed. If they have not, it quashes the decision and, as a rule, refers the case to another court of the same rank. In this way it ensures the unity of the case law and the uniform interpretation of the law in the country's two main linguistic communities.
The Court also hears applications for the settlement of conflicts between judges, applications for the removal of a case from one court and its referral to another, appeals against the decisions of the disciplinary courts and, sitting in joint chambers, conflicts of jurisdiction. It tries on the merits, in joint chambers, certain offences committed by ministers. Each year its First President and its Procureur général publish a report in which they submit to the legislature the proposals for amending legislation that the Court's work has brought to light.
What are the principles of procedure?
An appeal in cassation is open to the parties against any decision given at last instance by a court of the judicial order, for breach of the law or violation of substantive formalities or of formalities prescribed on pain of nullity. The Procureur général may lodge an appeal in the interest of the law. There is no prior leave procedure. In civil matters the appeal must be signed by one of the avocats à la Cour de cassation, a specialised bar of twenty lawyers. In criminal matters the applicant's brief must be signed by a lawyer holding the certificate of training in cassation procedure.
The procedure is written. The case is examined at a public hearing, at which the reporting judge presents the case and the advocate general delivers his or her opinion. The language of the proceedings is French, Dutch or German, according to the language of the contested decision. Each chamber has a French-language and a Dutch-language section.
A chamber normally sits with five judges. Simple cases may be decided by three. In cases of principle the chamber sits in plenary session, with nine members drawn from both sections, so as to ensure the unity of the case law. The Court sits in joint chambers, with at least eleven judges, in the cases provided for by law.
What is the internal organization of the Court?
The Court has three chambers. The first chamber hears civil, economic and commercial, tax and disciplinary cases, as well as disputes concerning subjective rights between private persons and the administration, which in Belgium fall within the jurisdiction of the courts of the judicial order; the second chamber hears criminal cases; the third chamber hears social cases. Each chamber is divided into a French-language section and a Dutch-language section, presided over by a section president. The bench consists of the First President, the President, six section presidents and twenty-two judges, thirty magistrates in all, divided equally between the two linguistic roles.
The First President directs the Court, presides over plenary sessions and joint chambers and, as a rule, presides over the French-language section of the first chamber. The President presides over the Dutch-language section. The Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Cassation, headed by the Procureur général and composed of the First Advocate General and thirteen advocates general, gives its opinion in every case, in complete independence. It represents neither a party nor the Government.
The Court is assisted by référendaires, magistrates responsible for preparing the work of the judges and of the Public Prosecutor's Office, by a documentation and text-concordance service, which ensures the translation and publication of the judgments, and by the registry. It sits in the Palais de Justice in Brussels, on Place Poelaert.
How are the Judges of the Court appointed?
Judges of the Court of Cassation are appointed by the King on the reasoned nomination of the competent appointment and designation committee of the High Council of Justice, after the vacancy has been published and the Court has given its opinion. The King may not appoint a candidate who has not been nominated. Magistrates of the judicial order may be appointed and, under Article 259 of the Judicial Code, lawyers, university professors and other jurists with at least fifteen years of legal practice. Judges are appointed for life and retire at the age of 70.
The First President is designated by the King, on the nomination of the High Council of Justice, for a term of five years, which may not be renewed immediately. The candidate must have exercised legal functions for at least fifteen years, including the last five as a judge of the Court. The President and the section presidents are designated by the general assembly of the Court. The Procureur général is designated by the same procedure as the First President.
Information provided and confirmed by the Court of Cassation of Belgium, November 2026.