CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF SHARING KNOWLEDGE
June 1st, 2015 marks the 10th anniversary of Karel’s Legal Blog
Op 1 juni 2015 bestaat Karel’s Legal Blog 10 jaar
Dia 1 di yüni 2015 Karel’s Legal Blog ta kumpli 10 aña
Celebrating 10 years of sharing knowledge
This is an important milestone for me. Back in May 2005 I only had a rough idea about blogging and what it would take to create a successful legal blog a.k.a. blawg.
Now, …
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VISHON
Kolumna di Karel Frielink
Un reklamo ku bo ta tende hopi: gobièrnu no tin vishon. Bon mirá, kiko ta vishon?
Si ta trata di un pais, den nos kaso Pais Kòrsou, un vishon ta, pues, un imágen futuro ku ta duna inspirashon. Un soño alkansabel. Ideanan ku ta indiká kon Pais Kòrsou por i mester desaroyá den e siguiente 10 pa 20 aña. Ideanan ku nos ta kompartí kolektivamente. Den un palabra, un vishon di futuro. I nos ta sinti falta di esaki.
Na 10-10-10 pais Kòrsou a nase. Un pais ku un gran futuro su dilanti. Pero tambe un …
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VISION
Column by Karel Frielink
It’s a complaint often heard: the government lacks vision. What really is a vision?
If it is about a country, in our case the Country of Curacao, a vision is an inspiring picture of the future. It’s an attainable dream. This involves ideas about the way in which the Country of Curacao could and should be able to develop in the coming 10 to 20 years: ideas shared collectively. In short, a vision of the future. And this is lacking.
The Country of Curacao was born on 10/10/2010. It is a country with a whole future …
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STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES AND GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Speech by Karel Frielink at the 8th Biennial Conference of the Caribbean Ombudsman Association
Ladies and Gentlemen!
First of all, I would like to thank the Curaçao Ombudsman, Alba Martijn, for inviting me to speak at this conference. Unfortunately, she will leave office in about a month. She did an excellent job, and her professionalism, dedication and impartiality leave a lasting legacy. Thank you Alba!
I have only half an hour, so I won’t travel back in time to the early days of mankind. I just start with Plato (427 – 347 B.C.E.). You may have heard of this philosopher. …
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VISIE
Column Karel Frielink
Een veelgehoorde klacht: de overheid heeft geen visie. Maar wat is dat eigenlijk, een visie?
Als het gaat om een land, in ons geval het Land Curaçao, dan is een visie een inspirerend toekomstbeeld. Een bereikbare droom. Ideeën over hoe het Land Curaçao zich in de komende 10 tot 20 jaar zou kunnen en moeten ontwikkelen. Ideeën die collectief worden gedeeld. Kortom, een toekomstvisie. En die ontbreekt.
Op 10-10-’10 is het Land Curaçao geboren. Een land met een hele toekomst voor zich. Maar ook een land met een verleden, een erfenis. En die erfenis bestaat niet alleen …
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FINANCIEEL RECHT IN DE PRAKTIJK
FRP – Nieuw vakblad
Financieel Recht in de Praktijk (FRP) is een nieuw vakblad voor onder andere bank- en verzekeringsjuristen en advocaten die te maken hebben met het financieel recht, in het bijzonder de (Nederlandse) Wet op het financieel toezicht (Wft).
FRP zorgt voor een actueel overzicht van alle relevante ontwikkelingen rond de Wft.
De toonaangevende redactie van FRP (zie de foto) overziet het hele rechtsgebied, volgt wetgeving, jurisprudentie en literatuur op de voet én vertaalt de ontwikkelingen naar leesbare, verdiepende en concrete artikelen, die direct toepasbaar zijn in uw dagelijkse werkzaamheden.
LAWYERS AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST
A lawyer must be independent
A lawyer (attorney at law) is expected to be independent. This independence involves an attitude: this is the lawyer’s disposition toward his client but also toward the court and in actual fact toward any other party involved. He ought to represent the interests of his client and not be led by his own interests. Neither is he allowed to represent the interests of others if they conflict with the interest of his client.
In the (Curaçao) Code of Conduct for Lawyers this starting point is described as follows: “The lawyer shall not undertake to represent …
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LIABILITY OF THE SILENT PARTNER
The Supreme Court can give its opinion
I will first describe Dutch law in this respect. A limited partnership (commanditaire vennootschap: ‘CV’) is a contractual, legal relationship between two or more persons or legal entities to carry on a business under a joint name, whereby the aim is to gain proprietary benefits on the basis of their contributions. The CV (with multiple managing partners) is therefore a special form of the general partnership (vennootschap onder firma: ‘VOF’). This special status consists of the business operations also being carried on at the expense of one or more silent partners (limited partners), …
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SUPREME COURT U-TURN
The bankruptcy of a general partnership (‘VOF’) does not automatically mean the bankruptcy of its partners
For many decades the rule had to be adhered to that the bankruptcy of a general partnership (vennootschap onder firma: ‘VOF’) also meant the bankruptcy of the individual partners (Supreme Court 14 April 1927, NJ 1927, page 725).
However, in a ruling of 6 February 2015 the Supreme Court made a U-turn and held that there is no (or no longer) any justification for this connection (ECLI:NL:HR:2015:251). The Supreme Court has justified its new position as follows:
3.4.1 A VOF has no corporate personality. …
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QUASI DIRECTOR OR JUST THE BOSS?
This depends on the facts
If a legal entity (an NV or BV comes to mind) becomes bankrupt, any director (according to its Articles) becomes jointly and severally liable for the deficit of the bankrupt’s estate if it is apparent that there has been improper management and it is plausible that this was a major cause of the bankruptcy.
The Act provides that a person who (during the relevant period) determined or co-determined the policy of the legal entity as if he was a director is considered equivalent to a director. This is also called a quasi director. For instance, …
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LIABILITY OF A NEW PARTNER
Supreme Court creates clarity
The National Ordinance on Partnerships (Landsverordening personenvennootschappen) of Curacao (1 January 2012) and St. Maarten (1 April 2014) mentions two main variants of the partnership: the public partnership and the silent partnership. The public partnership is a partnership (i) for carrying on a profession or business or performing professional or business acts, which (ii) partnership acts externally in a way which is clearly recognizable by third parties (iii) under a name it uses as such (Section 7:801 subsection 1 of the Civil Code).
The partners of a public partnership are jointly and severally liable for the …
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LIABILITY OF A TRUST DIRECTOR
No lighter liability system
The National Ordinance on the supervision of Trust Service Providers (Landsverordening toezicht trustwezen) does not provide anything with regard to the liability of trust offices (a.k.a. management services companies) or their representatives acting as a director under the Articles (of Association) of a legal entity (for instance a company limited by shares (‘NV‘), private company with limited liability (‘BV‘) or foundation). The question is whether this liability is governed by the usual rules in this area. Because the trust office as a director of a legal entity usually fulfills a different role from a director – …
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