Cases in appeal
The Joint Court of Justice handles cases in appeal that were dealt with and decided on by the Courts in First Instance. A judge who handled a case in first instance will not participate when the case is dealt with in appeal. Three members of the Court deal with the cases in appeal. Those judges then make up the Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and of Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba. So, this name denotes both the whole of the judicial system of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and of Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba (including the Courts in First Instance) as well as the higher court of appeal by itself (hereafter ‘the Court of Appeal’). There are some exceptional cases where the Court of Appeal also handles cases in first instance with more than one judge.