Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist

Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist (20 April 1749 – 3 August 1823) was a Dutch statesman. He was Head of State of the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic from 17 April 1797 – 1 May 1797 and Commissioner-General of the Cape Colony during the interregnum from 21 February 1803 – 25 September 1804 in accordance with the short-lived Treaty of Amiens. The Cape Colony had been under Dutch control from 1652. In 1795 it was occupied by the British following the Battle of Muizenberg but under the final terms of peace between Great Britain, France and the Netherlands – then the Batavian Republic – in 1802, the colony was restored to the Batavian Republic.

Born in Zaltbommel on 20 April 1749, de Mist studied Roman Dutch law at the University of Leiden, from 17 September 1766 to 1 July 1768. He practised law in Kampen from 1768 to 1769 and held the following positions thereafter:

The States-General resolved that the executive and legislative authority of the Cape Colony should be committed to a governor and a council of four members, of whom one at least should be, by birth or long residence, a colonist. The governor was to be also commander of the troops. The high court of justice was to be independent of the other branches of the government, and was to consist of a president and six members, all of them versed in the law. Trade with the possessions of the Batavian Republic everywhere was to be subject only to a very small duty. With these principles as a basis, the task of drawing up a plan of administration was entrusted to De Mist, an advocate of high standing and a member of the council for the Asiatic possessions and establishments.

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