{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "id": "saint-barthelemy",
  "name": "Saint-Barthélemy (Saint Barts)",
  "jurisdiction_code": "BL",
  "legal_system": "civil-law",
  "language": [
    "fr"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "generated": "2026-06-04",
  "summary": "Saint-Barthélemy is a Caribbean civil-law French overseas collectivity (Collectivité d'outre-mer / COM) — structurally distinctive within French overseas territory cluster as one of two COMs (with Saint-Martin) achieving COM autonomy from Guadeloupe DROM on 22 February 2007 via 2003 referendum. Saint-Barthélemy is also structurally distinctive globally for its 1784-1878 Swedish colonial period (Sweden's only Caribbean colony ever), accounting for its capital Gustavia being named after Swedish King Gustav III. Family-law framework operates under the French Civil Code with COM-specific adaptations under the Organic Law 2007-223 (Statut). Parental authority (autorité parentale) and child custody are governed by Civil Code arts. 371-387. The Court of Appeal of Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe) has jurisdiction over Saint-Barthélemy matters; final appellate jurisdiction lies with the French Court of Cassation in Paris. Family-law matters are heard at first instance in the Tribunal de Première Instance de Saint-Barthélemy. Psychology profession is regulated through the French Republic professional framework as applicable in Saint-Barthélemy. Saint-Barthélemy is silent on 'parental alienation' as a statutory label; courts operate substantively under the French interest-of-the-child standard. Saint-Barthélemy is a Hague Convention 1980 party via French Republic territorial extension effective 1 December 1983.",
  "pa_recognition_status": {
    "statutory": "silent",
    "apex_court_position": "no-apex-position",
    "professional_regulator_position": "silent"
  },
  "statutory_framework": [
    {
      "citation": "French Civil Code arts. 371-387 (applicable in Saint-Barthélemy)",
      "title": "French Civil Code — Parental authority",
      "year": 1804,
      "url": "https://www.cour-de-cassation.fr/",
      "relevance": "French Civil Code applicable in Saint-Barthélemy with COM-specific adaptations. Arts. 371-387 govern autorité parentale and child custody."
    },
    {
      "citation": "Organic Law 2007-223 of 21 February 2007 (Statut of Saint-Barthélemy)",
      "title": "Statut of Saint-Barthélemy",
      "year": 2007,
      "url": "https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/",
      "relevance": "Federal Organic Law establishing Saint-Barthélemy's COM autonomy from Guadeloupe DROM effective 22 February 2007 following 2003 referendum."
    }
  ],
  "apex_courts": [
    {
      "name": "Court of Appeal of Basse-Terre (Cour d'appel de Basse-Terre) — Saint-Barthélemy jurisdiction",
      "seat": "Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe",
      "url": "https://www.cour-appel-basse-terre.justice.fr/",
      "role": "Apex appellate court for civil and criminal matters from Saint-Barthélemy."
    },
    {
      "name": "French Court of Cassation (Cour de Cassation)",
      "seat": "Paris",
      "url": "https://www.cour-de-cassation.fr/",
      "role": "Final appellate court for civil and criminal matters from Saint-Barthélemy."
    }
  ],
  "professional_regulators": [
    {
      "name": "French Republic professional framework (applicable in Saint-Barthélemy)",
      "url": "https://www.sante.gouv.fr/",
      "role": "French professional regulatory framework for health and allied health professionals including clinical psychology applicable in Saint-Barthélemy."
    }
  ],
  "anonymisation_convention": "Saint-Barthélemoise family-court decisions are anonymised per Court of Appeal practice using initials.",
  "key_developments": [
    {
      "year": 1648,
      "title": "First-French-colonisation + Knights-of-Malta-tenure framework",
      "description": "First French colonisation of Saint-Barthélemy 1648 (later under Knights of Malta tenure 1651-1664)."
    },
    {
      "year": 1784,
      "title": "Swedish colonial period begins + Gothenburg-trading-privileges-exchange + Sweden's-only-Caribbean-colony framework",
      "description": "France ceded Saint-Barthélemy to Sweden 1 July 1784 in exchange for trading privileges in Gothenburg. Capital renamed Gustavia after King Gustav III."
    },
    {
      "year": 1804,
      "title": "Code civil des Français + Napoleon-Code-substantive-heritage framework",
      "description": "Code civil des Français (later Code Napoléon) 21 March 1804 applicable from 1878 return to France in Saint-Barthélemy — substantively significant Caribbean French framework. 371-387 governing autorité parentale and child custody."
    },
    {
      "year": 1847,
      "title": "Swedish abolition of slavery + early-Caribbean-abolition framework",
      "description": "Swedish abolition of slavery in Saint-Barthélemy 9 October 1847. Substantive demographic and family-law-implementation transformation affecting subsequent constitutional-democratic-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1878,
      "title": "Return-to-France + inhabitants-referendum-+-end-of-Swedish-period framework",
      "description": "Sweden ceded Saint-Barthélemy back to France 10 August 1878 following inhabitants referendum."
    },
    {
      "year": 1946,
      "title": "Guadeloupe-DROM-integration + Saint-Barthélemy-as-Guadeloupe-arrondissement framework",
      "description": "Guadeloupe DROM established 19 March 1946 — Saint-Barthélemy integrated as arrondissement of Guadeloupe DROM under loi de départementalisation."
    },
    {
      "year": 1983,
      "title": "Hague Convention 1980 territorial extension + France-UNCRC-ratification framework",
      "description": "Hague Convention 1980 territorial extension by France to Saint-Barthélemy effective 1 December 1983 (via Guadeloupe DROM framework). France ratified UNCRC 7 August 1990 with applicability to Saint-Barthélemy — establishing interest-of-the-child substantive doctrine within French-derivative-civil-law framework applicable to Saint-Barthélemy."
    },
    {
      "year": 2003,
      "title": "COM autonomy referendum + 95.51-percent-in-favour framework",
      "description": "Saint-Barthélemy voted 95.51% in favour of COM autonomy from Guadeloupe DROM 7 December 2003."
    },
    {
      "year": 2007,
      "title": "Organic Law 2007-223 + COM-autonomy-effective + fiscal-autonomy framework",
      "description": "Federal Organic Law 2007-223 of 21 February 2007 establishing Saint-Barthélemy's COM autonomy effective 22 February 2007. Subsequent EU OCT status (Overseas Country and Territory) framework 2012 changing from outermost-region status."
    },
    {
      "year": 2023,
      "title": "Conseil territorial framework + EU OCT status framework + Saint-Martin cross-border framework",
      "description": "Conseil territorial de Saint-Barthélemy framework continuing through 2023 under COM-with-fiscal-autonomy framework. EU OCT (Overseas Country and Territory) status framework substantively significant cross-border family-law adjudication context. Saint-Martin cross-border family-law adjudication framework substantively significant for shared-island institutional cooperation. Substantively significant Caribbean French COM institutional jurisprudential development."
    },
    {
      "year": 2024,
      "title": "Cour d'appel de Basse-Terre + Cour de Cassation — interest-of-the-child substantive register + continuing-fiscal-autonomy framework",
      "description": "Court of Appeal of Basse-Terre (Saint-Barthélemy jurisdiction) and French Court of Cassation continue to develop interest-of-the-child jurisprudence under Civil Code arts. 371-387 + Organic Law 2007-223 + Hague Convention 1980 framework in custody disputes within continuing-fiscal-autonomy + EU OCT status context. Substantive analysis without doctrinal 'parental alienation' label adoption."
    }
  ],
  "structural_findings": [
    "Saint-Barthélemy operates a French-civil-law framework with COM autonomy — places Saint-Barthélemy in the French overseas collectivity cluster.",
    "1784-1878 Swedish colonial period is structurally distinctive globally — Sweden's only Caribbean colony ever and Saint-Barthélemy's distinctive Swedish-heritage capital name (Gustavia).",
    "COM autonomy from Guadeloupe DROM (2007) is structurally distinctive — only French DROM-to-COM separation in recent history (with Saint-Martin).",
    "Distinctive tax regime under COM Statut is structurally significant — Saint-Barthélemy has fiscal autonomy from metropolitan France.",
    "Hague Convention 1980 applicability via French Republic territorial extension reflects COM Hague jurisdiction status."
  ],
  "references": [
    "jurisdiction:france",
    "jurisdiction:guadeloupe",
    "jurisdiction:saint-martin",
    "jurisdiction:sweden",
    "evidence:cross-border-parental-abduction-and-pa-intersection",
    "evidence:childrens-rights-paramountcy-doctrine"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Court of Appeal of Basse-Terre",
      "url": "https://www.cour-appel-basse-terre.justice.fr/",
      "publisher": "Court of Appeal",
      "language": "fr"
    },
    {
      "title": "Légifrance",
      "url": "https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/",
      "publisher": "French Government",
      "language": "fr"
    }
  ],
  "editorial_notes": [
    "Saint-Barthélemy jurisdiction sidecar v1.1 — deepened 2026-06-09 from 5 to 10 key_developments with full first-French-colonisation-1648-to-continuing-fiscal-autonomy trajectory: 1648-first-French-colonisation-+-Knights-of-Malta + 1784-Swedish-colonial-period-+-Gustavia + 1804-Code-civil-des-Français + 1847-Swedish-abolition-of-slavery + 1878-return-to-France-+-inhabitants-referendum + 1946-Guadeloupe-DROM-integration + 1983-Hague-Convention-+-France-UNCRC + 2003-COM-autonomy-referendum-95.51-percent + 2007-Organic-Law-2007-223-COM-autonomy + 2024-Cour-d'appel-de-Basse-Terre-+-Cour-de-Cassation-interest.",
    "Civil-law Caribbean French COM (French Civil Code + Organic Law 2007-223 COM autonomy from Guadeloupe DROM + Swedish colonial heritage 1784-1878 + Gustavia capital + Hague via French Republic territorial extension 1983 + fiscal autonomy + EU OCT status 2012). Sweden's only ever Caribbean colony + only Caribbean colony returned by inhabitants referendum (1878) + only Swedish colonial abolition predating French abolition (1847, 5 months earlier).",
    "PA-recognition: silent statutory + no-apex-position + silent regulator — substantive interest-of-the-child analysis under Civil Code arts. 371-387 + Organic Law 2007-223 + Hague Convention 1980 framework without doctrinal 'parental alienation' label.",
    "Joins Caribbean + civil-law + French-COM-cluster + Swedish-colonial-heritage-1784-1878-Sweden's-only-Caribbean-colony-ever-distinctive + Gustavia-capital-named-after-Gustav-III + 1648-first-French-colonisation-+-Knights-of-Malta-tenure-1651-1664 + Code-civil-des-Français-1804 + Swedish-abolition-of-slavery-1847-predating-French-abolition + 1878-return-to-France-by-inhabitants-referendum-distinctive + Guadeloupe-DROM-integration-1946 + DROM-to-COM-separation-Saint-Martin-shared-2007 + COM-with-fiscal-autonomy-+-EU-OCT-status-2012 + Hague-via-French-Republic-territorial-extension clusters within the corpus."
  ]
}