Jacob Wit

Jacob Wit (born 24 December 1952, in Haarlemmermeer) is a justice of the Caribbean Court of Justice,^[1] located in Trinidad and Tobago.^[2] Since 2010 he also serves as the President of the Constitutional Court of Sint Maarten,^[3] and is a former Judge of the Rotterdam District Court^[4] and the Common Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.^[5]

Early life and legal career

Wit (Netherlands Antilles) was born on 24 December 1952 in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands.

He graduated from the Pius X Lyceum (Amsterdam) in 1971, entering in that same year the Vrije Universiteit (Free University) of Amsterdam, from which he took the degree of Master of Laws with honours in 1977.^[6] After completing his military service (1976-1978) as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Dutch Navy.^[7] Wit was admitted in March 1978 as a Judicial Trainee at the Studiecentrum Rechtspleging (Training and Study Centre for the Judiciary) in Zutphen, where he remained until 1984.^[8] During this period, he held the posts of Law Clerk in the Rotterdam District Court, Rotterdam, (1978-1980) and Deputy Prosecutor at the Amsterdam District Court (1980-1982) and worked as an attorney-at-law with the Law Firm of Van Doorne & Sjollema in Rotterdam.^[9]

Judicial career

Wit was appointed as Deputy Judge of the Rotterdam District Court in January 1984, Judge of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba on 1 October 1986 where he functioned as Coordinating Judge, Court of First Instance, Curaçao (1993-1996); Coordinator Judge of Instruction, Netherlands Antilles (1994-1997); Coordinating Judge for the Dutch Windward Islands of Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba and from 2001 to 2005 as Senior Justice and Acting Chief Justice.^[10] He took the Oath of Office as a Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) at the President’s House Port of Spain, on Wednesday 1 June 2005.^[11] In November 2010, Wit was appointed and sworn in as the President of the Constitutional Court of Sint Maarten,^[12] a part-time function.

References