After the French troops had been driven out by Russian Cossacks, the new Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands, was established by the constitution of 29 March 1814, the Grondwet van den Staat der Verëenigde Nederlanden.

William VI of Orange, instated on 2 December 1813 as "Sovereign Prince" by acclamation, and only accepting "under the safeguard of a free constitution, assuring your freedom against possible future abuses", had first appointed 600 men of good standing as electors (Assembly of Notables) and these approved the constitution, written by a commission headed by Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp.

Regarding the government's political structure the 1815 constitution did not diverge much from the situation during the Republic: the 110 members of House of Representatives (lower house) of the States General, the "Second Chamber" as it is still called, were still appointed by the States-Provincial (for three years; each year a third was replaced), who themselves were filled with nobility members or appointed by the city councils, just like under the ancien régime.

Generally, however, the administration was monarchical, with the king appointing for life the members of the Senate, the "First Chamber", that mockingly was called the Ménagerie du Roi.

The States-Provincial, themselves elected by voters, appointed by majorities for each province the members of the Senate from a select group of upper class citizens.

In 1887 the census suffrage system was replaced by one based on minimal wealth and education, which allowed an ever-growing share of the male population to be given the right to vote; therefore this provision was at the time nicknamed the "caoutchouc-article".

In 1917, like in 1848 influenced by the tense international situation, universal manhood suffrage was introduced combined with a system of proportional representation to elect the House of Representatives, the States-Provincial and the municipality councils.

In 1938 there was a minor revision, introducing some elements of the then fashionable corporatism by giving a constitutional base to public bodies regulating sectors of the economy.

This rule itself, however, being legal doctrine, is not explicitly included anywhere within the written law and is only found in the official commission reports and ministerial commentaries accompanying the bill.

Subarticle 4 mentions that both Houses can gather in an indivisible United Assembly of 225 members, a joint session necessary to perform some acts, such as the appointment of a new King in absence of royal heirs.

All persons partaking in the deliberations of parliament or in the parliamentary commission meetings have legal immunity regarding any communication they made, either in speech or in writing (Article 71).

As the legislative is in the Netherlands formed by parliament and government in cooperation, these Rules of Procedure are not formal laws but have a sui generis "legal" status.

Dutch legal doctrine believes in a clear distinction between efficiency and effectiveness reports and this is reflected in two separate types of investigation carried out.

The advice of all bodies indicated in Chapter 4 is in principle public; the law regulates the way it is published; delegation is allowed (Article 80); it is submitted to the States General (subarticle 2).

Only the most important subcategory of these is explicitly mentioned in the constitution, in Article 89: the Algemene maatregelen van bestuur, "General Administrative Orders".

The second paragraph of Chapter 5 contains several articles of disparate administrative content; but they are not the same as the "other prescripts" of §1; the redaction of the headings is generally seen as confusing and infelicitous on this point.

Whether such conflict exists is decided by the States General; article 6 of the lower Rijkswet goedkeuring en bekendmaking verdragen determines that this decision has again to be made by special formal law.

Dutch courts have however been very reluctant to do so, limiting this to cases where government has been left no freedom of policy at all by the treaty, or to severe formal and procedural defects.

Since Napoleonic times conscription had been the rule and voluntary service the exception; this has now been inverted to accommodate the creation of a fully professional army in 1997.

A provision that has remained unchanged is Article 99, stating that law regulates the exemption of military service for conscientious objectors; delegation is allowed.

Government has to inform the States General about any intended foreign deployment of Dutch forces outside of defence treaty obligations, thus to protect the international rule of law and for humanitarian missions (Article 100).

This means provinces and municipalities cannot create their own criminal codes and government cannot make a certain act a crime by a Royal Decree not based on formal law.

Article 110 imposes a duty upon government to safeguard by formal law sufficient public access to information regarding governmental activities.

This implies that even in administrative disputes the citizen can always assure some legal resort, simply by bringing a tort action against the State: the judiciary is then competent.

These other duties in fact include the resolving of conflicts of competence between courts, penal trials against judges for offences committed in office, disciplinary and advisory tasks and the decision in disputes about prizes taken by Dutch vessels.

Law will in general regulate the kind of provisions to be made if provinces or municipalities fail to meet the demands of Article 124 sub 2 (Subarticle 5).

The mayor has some legal executive powers of his own, mainly regarding the protection of public order, but these have no direct constitutional basis, they are delegated by the national legislator.

In earlier versions of the amendment process, the Senate was also dissolved whenever general elections were held and both Houses had approved a law to propose changes to the constitution.

Since 1998 this is the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations; when he is acting in this capacity the council has the status of the Government of the Realm to treat minor issues.

These precepts cover a number of varying topics ranging from applicability of different types of laws to persons or territories, to regulations mandating that judges must hear all cases brought before them.