Within the scope of the new political relations Curaçao and St. Maarten will constitute autonomous countries within the Kingdom and Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba wll form part of the Netherlands. In the new situation there will be one Common Court of Justice, exactly as is the case with the Netherlands Antiles and Aruba currently.
Courts of the first instance will fall under the High Court of Justice. In each country there will be a Court of the first instance. That implies that there will be four Courts of the first instance: one of Curaçao, one of Aruba, one of St. Maarten and one for administration of justice in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. The High Court and Lower Courts form one organization. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands will remain the judge in cassation.
The High Court will be provided with an executive body that will be in charge of day-to-day management and operations. A novelty as compared with the present situation will be the installation of a Management Council. The Management Council will consult with the four ministers of Justice on the budget of the judiciary organization, will supervise the acts of management of the administration of the High Court and will account to the ministers of Justice for the management conducted. The Management Council will be comparable with the Council for Administration of Justice which in the Netherlands acts as a liaison between political entities and the judiciary.
The Council of Ministers has consented to the bill of law being sent to the Council of State of the Kingdom for recommendations. The text of the bill of law and the recommendations of the Council of State of the Kingdom will only be made public at the time when it is submitted to the Lower House and sent to the Parliaments of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
The bill of law is based on consensus between the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles regarding the new political relations. With regard to Aruba it is based on the competency to lay down rules to guarantee legal certainty by Kingdom Act. For to such end the Common Court of Justice is indispensable.
