Special privileges(stadsrechten) granted to cer tain communities by counts and dukes during the Middle Ages by which these cities were exempted from the law of the surrounding country. This autonomy proved to be the basis of the successful eco nomic and cultural development of many towns in western and cen tral Europe. In the period of the Dutch Republic, the cities of the provinces, especially Holland, were influential in the state assem blies. The autonomous legal development of the Dutch cities ended with the Batavian Revolution and the introduction of a written na tional constitution in 1798.
Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands. EdwART. 2012.