User:Panyd/Jacob Wit

Jacob Wit
The Honourable Mr. Jacob Wit (born, 24 December 1952 in Haarlemmermeer) is a justice of the Caribbean Court of Justice, located in Trinidad and Tobago. He also serves as the President of the Constitutional Court of St. Martin, and is a former Judge of the Rotterdam District Court and the Joint Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.

Early life and legal career
The Honourable Mr. Justice Jacob 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, Mr. Justice 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 enrolled until 1984. 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.

Judicial career
Mr. Justice Wit was appointed by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands as Deputy Judge of the Rotterdam District Court in January 1984, Judge of the Rotterdam District Court in March 1985 and Judge of the Joint Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba on 1 October 1986. This Court consists of two Courts of First Instance (Netherlands Antilles, Aruba) and a Court of Appeal. Resident in Curaçao since 1986, from then to 2005, Mr. Justice Wit presided over or sat in the Court of Appeal, but mainly presided in the Courts of First Instance over a wide range of cases, involving: civil law (contract, tort, property, succession), commercial and admiralty law, insurance, bankruptcy and (cross border) insolvency, company law and intellectual property, criminal law (serious crime, government corruption, international fraud, money laundering), military law, administrative law, constitutional law and international human rights law.

Over this period, he has acquired significant expertise in various posts within the Joint Court of Justice system: as Coordinating Judge, Court of First Instance, Curacao (1993-1996); Coordinator Judge of Instruction, Netherlands Antilles (1994-1997); Coordinating Judge for the Dutch Windward Islands of Saint Maarten, Saint Eustatius and Saba (1997-2001) and from 2001 to 2005 as Senior Justice and Acting Chief Justice.

The Honourable Mr. Justice Jacob Wit, 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. The oath was administered by His Excellency Professor George Maxwell Richards, President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and witnessed by the Right Honourable Mr. Justice Michael de la Bastide, President of the CCJ.

In November 2010, Mr. Justice Wit was appointed and sworn in as the President of the Constitutional Court of St. Martin, a part-time function.

Personal Life
The Honourable Mr. Justice Wit is married to Sheila Wit-Thodé, a native of Curaçao. They have 3 children: Demseys, Taciana, and Nausicaä, all born in Curaçao.