A bird’s-eye view of the Aruban legal system

The description given below is intended for those who are completely unfamiliar with the Aruban legal system and sets out to do no more than sketch an outline of the most common procedures. Although the description and the content have been drawn up as carefully as possible, Oomen Lawyers does not accept any liability whatsoever for any inaccuracies in this information.

The Aruban legal system is roughly based on the Dutch system. The official language is Dutch. Broadly speaking, a distinction can be made between four types of judicial processes: 1. the civil judicial process for disputes between citizens; 2. the criminal process for prosecuting crimes; 3. civil service law for disputes between officials and the government as an employer and 4. administrative law for disputes between citizens and the government as an administrative body.

In October 2010 the political state structure of the Dutch Caribbean has changed drastically. Curacao and St. Maarten received the status of a separate state within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, while Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (the so called BES-islands) received a status comparable to a municipality in the Netherlands.
Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten are three separate countries and together with the BES-islands and the Netherlands form the Kingdom of the Netherlands (please also consult the page “Interesting Links”). The administration of justice in Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten and the BES-islands is jointly arranged and is practised by the Joint Court of Appeal of Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten and Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba, hereinafter also referred to as “the Joint Court of Appeal”. All judges in the Dutch Caribbean entities are members of this Joint Court of Appeal.

Notwithstanding exceptions, in general terms proceedings can be instituted in three instances in civil and criminal cases. In Aruba, law is administered in the first instance by a sole administrating judge in the Court of First Instance of Aruba. Appeals are heard by the Joint Court of Appeal, for which three judges from Curaçao arrive in Aruba once a month. An appeal in cassation can usually be lodged against rulings of the Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court in The Hague, the Netherlands. In cases where human rights are at issue, the proceedings can also be referred subsequently to the European Court of Human Rights is Strasbourg.

Ordinary civil proceedings on the merits can be made pending by submitting a petition to the registry of the Court of First Instance in Aruba. A defendant is given the opportunity to submit a statement of defence, after which the plaintiff puts forward a statement of reply and, finally, the defendant can put forward a rejoinder. The first judgement is then pronounced. This can be a final judgement, but this first ruling is usually a provisional ruling, in which one of the parties is instructed to submit evidence, for instance. Most proceedings on the merits are conducted primarily in writing. The documents in the proceedings are exchanged on the weekly civil cause list (docket). For an average, not excessively complex case, it can easily take a year before a judgement is pronounced in the first instance.

In urgent cases, civil interim injunction proceedings (also known as summary proceedings) are possible. This is made pending in the same way, but the case is heard in the short term (within a few weeks or, if necessary, a few days). The points of view are submitted orally by the lawyers of the plaintiff and the defendant and the judgement is also pronounced in the short term.

Proceedings can also be instituted in shortened time periods for labour and rental cases. This takes longer than interim injunction proceedings, but much less time than ordinary proceedings on the merits.

A court registry fee (among other fees) is payable for instituting civil proceedings, amounting to at least Afl 450 and depending on the financial interest of the case can run up to as much as 1% of the claims amounting to more than Afl. 750,000. Bailiff’s fees and lawyer’s fees are also payable.

The New Civil Code was introduced in Aruba on 1 January 2002, and is more or less identical to the Dutch Civil Code.

Criminal cases are made pending by a criminal investigation, possibly accompanied by the arrest of a suspect. If a suspect is arrested, he has the right to immediate legal assistance from a lawyer. On Aruba an emergency defender service is in force, which ensures that arrested suspects without their own lawyer are provided with a duty lawyer within 24 hours. Arrested suspects must also be brought before an examining magistrate within 72 hours of their arrest, who evaluates if the detention meets all legal requirements.

A suspect can be placed on remand if a number of requirements prescribed by the law and legal precedent (case law) are met. If those requirements are met, the suspect can be arrested and held for questioning for 6 hours. This time period can be extended if the assistant public prosecutor places the suspect in custody. The period of custody is 2 days, but can be extended by 8 days by the public prosecutor. If the public prosecutor takes the view that (after this initial 10 days and 6 hours) the period of detention should be prolonged, he must submit a request to that effect to the examining magistrate. If the examining magistrate judges that there are grounds for prolonging the remand period, he will order an 8 day period of detention, which can be extended once by a further 8 days. The detention in custody can then be ordered for a period of 60 days, which can be extended twice at the most by 30 days. At the end of the last extension (i.e. on the 146th day of detention at the latest) the case must be brought to court. Once the court trial has commenced, the remand period remains in force until it is cancelled.

There are various legal remedies available against the separate decisions regarding remand. It is also possible to have the remand suspended under certain conditions.

A criminal case can be accompanied by a judicial preliminary investigation. On completion of the preliminary investigation the public prosecutor can decide not to proceed with the prosecution or to summon the suspect to court.

Civil service proceedings usually involve measures that the government takes against a civil servant in its capacity as an employer. There are proceedings in two instances: The Civil Service Tribunal, against which an appeal can be lodged with the Board of Appeal in Civil Service cases. Also, in urgent cases, provisional relief can be sought (cf. interim injunction proceedings) from the civil service court.

In what are known as LAR (Administrative Law Act of the Netherlands Antilles/Aruba) cases citizens can contest a ruling (or a refusal to give a ruling) from an administrative body by lodging an appeal with the relevant administrative body. The appeal is then handled by the Appeal Advisory Committee, which, after hearing the parties, issues a recommendation to the administrative body that made the contested ruling. The administrative body then makes a decision on the appeal. The interested party can lodge an appeal against this (new) ruling of the administrative body (or against a refusal to give a new ruling) with the Court of the First Instance in Aruba.
In urgent cases a request can also be made to the Court for suspension of the contested decision or for provisional relief to prevent disproportionate harm.

Other than these procedures, there are a number of other special procedures that do not lend themselves to a brief description.