CRIMINAL ORDINANCES

   Statutes proclaimed in 1570 by King Philip II of Spain in the Netherlands as an attempt to create more uniformity in criminal law and procedures by codification of law. Although the Criminal Ordinances were not accepted in the rebellious northern provinces, they had great authority in criminal practice in many parts of the later Dutch Republic. As late as 1792, Prof. Bavius Voorda (1729–1799) of the Universityof Leidenpublished a new edition of the ordinances together with a learned commentary.