Jacob Wit (born 24 December 1952, in Haarlemmermeer) is a justice of the Caribbean Court of Justice, located in Trinidad and Tobago. Since 2010 he also serves as the President of the

Constitutional Court of Sint Maarten The Constitutional Court of Sint Maarten ( nl, Constitutioneel hof van Sint Maarten) is a court of Sint Maarten. As a constitutional court it evaluates the constitutionality of the provisions of legislation which is approved by the Estates of S ...

, and is a former Judge of the Rotterdam District Court and the

Common Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally ...

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. After completing his military service (1976-1978) as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Dutch Navy. 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. During this period, he held the posts of

Law Clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

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.

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. He took the Oath of Office as a Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) at the President’s House

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...

, on Wednesday 1 June 2005. In November 2010, Wit was appointed and sworn in as the President of the

, a part-time function.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wit, Jacob 1952 births Living people Caribbean Court of Justice judges 20th-century Dutch judges People from Haarlemmermeer Dutch judges of international courts and tribunals 21st-century Dutch judges