Jacob Wit


Jacob Wit 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, and is a former Judge of the Rotterdam District Court and the Common Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.

Early life and legal career

Wit was born on 24 December 1952 in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands.
He graduated from the Pius X Lyceum in 1971, entering in that same year the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam, from which he took the degree of Master of Laws with honours in 1977. After completing his military service as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Dutch Navy. Wit was admitted in March 1978 as a Judicial Trainee at the Studiecentrum Rechtspleging in Zutphen, where he remained until 1984. During this period, he held the posts of Law Clerk in the Rotterdam District Court, Rotterdam, and Deputy Prosecutor at the Amsterdam District Court 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 ; Coordinator Judge of Instruction, Netherlands Antilles ; 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 at the President’s House Port of Spain, on Wednesday 1 June 2005. In November 2010, Wit was appointed and sworn in as the President of the Constitutional Court of Sint Maarten, a part-time function.