Dear Editor,
A giant among us, Mr. Guido R. Hermans, recently passed away.
Perhaps not as well known, as humble as he always was, a media-shy person. Many legislative products, before and after 10-10-10, are in his name.
Just having returned from the Netherlands (1993), I got a job as a legislative lawyer at the General and Legal Affairs Department (AJZ) of the Island Territory of Curaçao.
My first lesson from Mr. Hermans, as my mentor: “Young man, this is a package of draft legislative proposals. Get started, mucha hòmber, I’ll help you if you get stuck. Then we will start the real process, which is ‘delete and omit’!”
Of course, I didn’t understand any of this at first, until I discovered the genius of this methodology of this legislative guru, Mr. Hermans. Before that, I had to toil every day into the evenings to process his lessons, but learning – that quickly happened.
Mr. Hermans was also in favor of partial legislative changes.
“Maitre Ribeiroo, our government apparatus is not as well equipped as in the Netherlands. So, we have to do it modestly through partial legislative changes. We will then arrange it for applicable texts (geldende teksten),” said this grandmaster.
Each sentence was then meticulously analyzed by him for possible linguistic errors as well as for the logical reasoning of the whole. Many pieces of my text used to have his remarks: “Amice, is it necessary?” and “behold, there is already the answer in that question.”
My early days with Mr. Hermans would not have been the easiest – long sessions – if it weren’t for the fact that he always combined them with anecdotes about international politics, French statements and, how could it be otherwise, in Latin.
One of them: “Maitre Ribeiroo, do not forget this: ‘Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo’ (The drop hollows out the stone, not by force, but by falling often).”
If I didn’t fully understand a certain word or concept right away, he always referred me to its deeper meaning: “Omnes definitio – in jure – periculosa es.” (Every definition – in law – is dangerous).
In my own life and career I may not have followed all his teachings, but I can never forget who my true teacher was.
To the Hermans family: wishing you strength! To Mr. Hermans: Amice, see you later!
Norberto V. Ribeiro
