Region pays tribute to Caribbean Court of Justice judge Jacob Wit, dead at 71

By Aaron Humes: The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat among others has paid tribute to Dutch Caribbean jurist Jacob Wit, an original member of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) who died Tuesday at 71, barely weeks after retiring from the Court.

Wit, first appointed in 2005, retired due to ill health and was one of two non-Caribbean jurists to serve on the Court.

In its remembrance the Court stated, “This native of the Netherlands was an eminent jurist with wide legal expertise in private law, commercial and admiralty law, insurance, bankruptcy and insolvency, company law and intellectual property, criminal law, military law, administrative law, constitutional law, and international human rights law.”

CCJ President, Justice Adrian Saunders, added that “His involvement with the CCJ Academy for Law and his role in coordinating the Academy’s most recent Biennial Conference and Regional Town Hall focusing on crime, paired with his passion for regional criminal justice reform are recognized and deeply appreciated. I will certainly miss him and his contributions to the Court and to the region.”

Justice Wit served in the Dutch court system and in the Caribbean region adjudicating over cases in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles, and the Dutch Windward Islands of Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, and Saba prior to joining the CCJ while also serving part-time as the President of the Constitutional Court of Sint Maarten.

A CARICOM statement read: “His breadth of knowledge and experience in military, constitutional, and international human rights law greatly enriched the administration of justice in the Region. The Community recognizes his invaluable legacy of promoting best practices in Caribbean jurisprudence, particularly through his involvement with the CCJ Academy for Law. CARICOM extends heartfelt condolences to his family, the legal fraternity, and all who mourn his loss. May his soul rest in peace.”

The current CCJ panel features judges from the Eastern Caribbean, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Belize’s own Denys Barrow, who has been serving there since 2017.

 

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