The Justice Planning Act as applied in Saint Martin
At national level, its main objectives are capacity building, increasing the budget and procedural innovations. For overseas territories, these are supplemented by improvements to working conditions and taking local specificities into account.
Since its publication on 20 November 2023, this Act provides for the creation of 10,000 jobs by 2027, including 1,500 additional magistrates and 1,800 additional court clerks, as well as an increase in funding to provide greater resources to the courts and the prison service. Special measures have been put in place for overseas territories to address their specific needs. As such, overseas courts will be able to recruit judges, court clerks and judicial assistants to reduce trial delays. There are also plans to modernise local infrastructure and adapt the judicial system to take account of local circumstances. Saint Martin is not to be outdone, as, for the start of the new term in September 2026, the public prosecutor’s office has been allocated two new deputy public prosecutors, fresh out of the National School for the Judiciary. This will enable better monitoring of cases, speed up their processing and, consequently, lead to quicker responses, thereby strengthening the connection with those subject to the jurisdiction of the courts. Whilst Saint-Martin remains, for the time being, a branch of the Basse-Terre Judicial Court, the island now has its own investigating magistrate’s office with a dedicated court clerk and judge. Judicial investigations concerning the Northern Islands will therefore no longer be managed from Guadeloupe but will be handled directly on the island.
