Language legislation in Belgium

While the Belgian Constitution guaranteed "freedom of language", in practice the authorities, including government institutions such as the courts, were dominated by the French-speaking upper classes, and operated in French.

[2] This bias disadvantaged the largely Flemish North and, to a lesser degree, the Walloons of the South and the mainly German- or Luxembourgish-speaking environs of Arlon.

As universal education developed in Belgium, the French language was initially the sole medium of instruction,[3] alienating the northern half of the country.

There was a similar sense of alienation in other areas such as justice, as the trial and conviction of two Flemish labourers, Jan Coucke and Pieter Goethals, in 1860 demonstrated.

The pair were sentenced to death for the murder of a widow without having understood one single word of their trial,[4] and were then found to be innocent after they were executed.

He refused to pay a fine of 50 francs for not wanting to declare the birth of his son to the municipal administration of Molenbeek in French, only to be convicted after an appeal in Cassation.

Some segments of French-speaking Wallonia were concerned that current practices could result in Belgium becoming a bilingual country, with French and Dutch being recognised as official languages everywhere.

This more flexible approach opened the possibility of minorities representing a minimum 30% of the local population being able to obtain services in their native, or chosen, language.

In 1997 the Peeters directive required that inhabitants of such municipalities must request such facilities in their chosen language on each and every occasion they want to enjoy that right.

[11] Protests raised by French-speakers before the European Court of Human Rights ECtHR were mostly unsuccessful (e.g. Belgian Linguistics Case).

The constitutional right of freedom of language remains intact and absolute only in the home, leading to ongoing tensions in Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.