Representatives from across the area convened on Wednesday on the Caribbean Court docket of Justice (CCJ) in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago for a Particular Sitting, celebrating the lifetime of one in all its earliest sworn-in judges, the late Justice Jacob Wit.
Justice Wit retired from the Court docket in December 2023 and was buried in a non-public ceremony on January 24 in Curaçao.
Presided over by the CCJ President, Justice Adrian Saunders, the Particular Sitting included remarks by judges, teachers, and members of the CCJ workers. Justice Wit was described by a lot of his friends as a witty and type choose who was genuinely involved about justice, equity, and humanity.
In the identical vein, Justice Saunders reminisced on his friendship with Justice Wit, stating that since they each joined the CCJ in 2005, the years have been among the most joyous “thanks in giant measure to Justice Wit’s eager mind, his curious thoughts, his generosity of spirit, [and] his collegiality.”
Remarks from Sir Dennis Byron, former CCJ President, have been delivered by the Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago, Justice Ivor Archie, ORTT have been equally affectionate. He remembers Justice Wit as “a perpetual pupil, an excellent mind, [who] introduced a contemporary method to problem-solving and discovering simply options within the decision of disputes. He made nice contributions to the event of our Caribbean jurisprudence, together with however not restricted to, the land legislation of Guyana.”
In lots of the different tributes all through the occasion, Justice Wit was lauded for his many contributions to the “multi-layered idea of the rule of legislation” notably within the areas of civil legislation and constitutional interpretation. He was keenly within the granular workings of the judicial system and hung out visiting the prisons in each jurisdiction each time the Court docket travelled. In his capability as co-Chairman of the CCJ Academy for Regulation, Justice Wit delivered a rousing lecture in Guyana on “Rethinking Legal Justice”.
Justice Winston Anderson confirmed that in da Costa Corridor v. The Queen, Justice Wit “fathered the precept that point spent in custody earlier than trial ought to rely as time spent below the sentence imposed at trial” as convicted criminals have been sentenced to prisons as punishment quite than for punishment.
Additional heat sentiments have been echoed by Justice Lisa Shoman, Normal Counsel of the Caribbean Group (CARICOM), who said that when Justice Wit was appointed in 2005 on the inception of the Court docket that he “not by start, however by deliberate alternative, conscientious motion and deed, turned in spirit and soul, a real son of our CARICOM solar and soil and we’re each proud and privileged to say him.”
Justice Geoffrey Henderson of the Trinidad and Tobago Judiciary additionally shared his fond recollections, drawing from experiences each in Trinidad and Tobago and in The Netherlands as Justice Wit “dropped at bear his distinctly blunt, direct, typically unsubtle, however most undoubtedly, unbiased method to his work as a jurist and his capacity to talk to points.”
Further submissions have been made by Justices of the CCJ Bench; Gizel Thomas-Roberts, CCJ Deputy Registrar and Marshal; Shaiesta Nabibaks, Lecturer, Worldwide Regulation, Anton de Kom College, Suriname; Donovan Walker, President, The Group of the Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations; and Justice Mauritsz de Kort, President, The Joint Court docket of Justice of Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Saint Martin, Saba, and Saint Eustatius.
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