Legal System

Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba have a civil law system based on Dutch law. The official language is Dutch. Justice is administered in the name of the Dutch Queen. The judiciary consists exclusively of professional judges appointed for life by the Queen. The judiciary has sole jurisdiction over civil matters and is also charged with trying criminal cases. Finally, certain types of administrative matters and disciplinary procedures concerning members of certain professions are entrusted to the judiciary.

Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba fall under the jurisdiction of the Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. The Joint Court of Justice is headquatered in Curaçao. The court sits in Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. The Joint Court of Justice, consisting of three-judge chambers, hears and decides appeals against judgments and decisions rendered by the Courts of First Instance in Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba.

The Courts of First Instance are comprised of single-judge chambers selected from the members of the Joint Court of Justice. For obvious reasons, a judge trying a case in the first instance may not be involved in a subsequent appeal heard by the Joint Court of Justice. The courts judging in the first instance have jurisdiction over all civil matters (save for appeals) and hear all criminal matters not entrusted to another court.

Appellate decisions of the Joint Court of Justice are generally subject to appeals to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.