In its first judgment, the Constitutional Court of Saint Martin reviewed the constitutionality of the island’s new penal code in the light of both the government’s positive obligation to ensure the welfare of animals and the Strasbourg Court’s Vinter decision which calls into question the legitimacy of life imprisonment. In doing so, the Court could show the way to courts in The Netherlands and abroad, both for its acceptance of judicial review of statute law against fundamental social rights and its openness towards the European Court of Human Rights’ jurisprudence. In addition, the Court managed to strike a convincing balance between an all-too-conservative form of judicial restraint on the one hand, and excessive interference in political matters on the other.