Constitutioneel Hof Constitutional Court | |
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![]() Courthouse, where the first two cases took place | |
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18°01′26″N63°02′45″W / 18.02381°N 63.04571°W | |
Established | 2010 |
Jurisdiction | Sint Maarten |
Coordinates | 18°01′26″N63°02′45″W / 18.02381°N 63.04571°W |
Composition method | Governmental appointment, after consultation/nomination |
Authorized by | Constitution of Sint Maarten |
Judge term length | 10 years (renewable once) |
Number of positions | 3 |
Currently | Jacob Wit |
Since | 17 November 2010 |
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The Constitutional Court of Sint Maarten (Dutch : Constitutioneel hof van Sint Maarten) is a court of Sint Maarten. As a constitutional court it evaluates the constitutionality of the provisions of legislation which is approved by the Estates of Sint Maarten and signed into law, but which has not entered into force. Procedures by the court may be initiated only by the ombudsman of Sint Maarten. As of July 2016, the court has decided two cases. Sint Maarten is the only country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands with a constitutional court.
The National ordinance Constitutional Court [1] (Dutch : Landsverordening Constitutioneel Hof) forms the legal basis for the constitutional court. It was approved by the Island Council of Sint Maarten before Sint Maarten obtained the status of country within the Kingdom as part of the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles and entered into force when Sint Maarten obtained that status on 10 October 2010. [2]
The court consists of 3 judges (and 3 deputy judges) which are appointed for a 10-year term, which may be renewed once. The Council of State of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Common Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and of Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba each nominate one of their judges as a member and deputy member of the court. The third member and deputy member is appointed after hearing the Constitutional Court. [1]
Initially judges who reached the age of 70 were dismissed. [3] As replacement was hard to find [5] that age was raised to 75 on 20 July 2021. [4] So that on 12 August 2021 mr. Jan de Boer could be reappointed. [6]
Members of the court are:
Name | Term Start | Term End | Position | Main position |
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Jacob Wit | 2010 [7] | President | ||
Pieter van Dijk | 2010 [7] | 2013 [8] | Vice-president | Council of State of the Netherlands |
Jan de Boer [7] | 2010, 2021 | Common Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and of Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba | ||
Ben Vermeulen [8] | 2013 | Council of State of the Netherlands |
As of January 2018, 2 cases have been brought before the court by Ombudsman Rachnilda (Nilda) J.A. Arduin, who has been ombudsman of the country since its inception. [9]
A complete recast of the Criminal Code was approved in 2012 and the ombudsman requested evaluation of the Act in January 2013. As this was the first case of the court, in its decision ECLI:NL:OCHM:2013:3 it first laid down certain points of departure regarding its evaluation consisting of 5 points: [10]
The Ombudsman had made seven complaints regarding the law, [11] which were dealt with in ECLI:NL:OCHM:2013:2
Thus the Court held complaints 1, 2, 5, and 6 to be well founded. It decided not to annul the ordinance as a whole but to annul only the provisions related to life without parole and release on licence. [10]
The National Ordinance for the establishment of the Integrity Chamber was approved by the Parliament of Sint Maarten, after considerable pressure from the Netherlands. The Chamber was to investigate and act upon possible violations of public integrity.
The ombudsman complained that a very substantial change had not been submitted to the Council of Advice for additional advice. The court held that the change was indeed sufficiently large to require such advice. Based on fundamental problems regarding the constitutionality of the act, in part because of the changes introduced, they Court annulled the act as a whole and laid down the requirements that a possible new act would have to fulfill. [13] These requirements included: [14]
The Netherlands Antilles was a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The country consisted of several island territories located in the Caribbean Sea. The islands were also informally known as the Dutch Antilles. The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies. The Antilles were dissolved in 2010. The Dutch colony of Surinam, although relatively close by on the continent of South America, did not become part of the Netherlands Antilles but became a separate autonomous country in 1954. All the island territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the kingdom today, although the legal status of each differs. As a group they are still commonly called the Dutch Caribbean, regardless of their legal status. People from this former territory continue to be called Antilleans in the Netherlands.
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The Supreme Court of the Netherlands, officially the High Council of the Netherlands, is the final court of appeal in civil, criminal and tax cases in the Netherlands, including Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Aruba. The Court was established on 1 October 1838 and is located in The Hague.
Sint Maarten is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean region of North America. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of 34 km2 (13 sq mi), it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the northern 56% of the island constitutes the French overseas collectivity of Saint Martin. Sint Maarten's capital is Philipsburg. Collectively, Sint Maarten and the other Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean.
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Sint Maarten, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, has a government formed by the monarch, represented by the governor, and the ministers. The Prime Minister of Sint Maarten presides over the council of ministers. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The minister plenipotentiary is not part of the government and represents the Sint Maarten government in the Netherlands. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The country is a parliamentary representative democratic country with a multi-party system. Sint Maarten has full autonomy on most matters, with the exceptions summed up in the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands under the title "Kingdom affairs". The Constitution of Sint Maarten was ratified in September 2010, and entered into force on 10 October 2010.
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