(Why small keys still lock big doors and why community service is not automatic) Introduction A few weeks ago, a certain wind began to blow through our legal streets, and it appears to be gaining momentum. It carries a seductive but specious dictum that misdemeanours in Ghana attract no custodial sentence, only a fine;...
Abstract: This article argues that Ghana’s Marriage Act, Cap 127, is archaic, discriminatory, jurisdictionally confused and a Trojan Horse for foreign values. Drawing on relevant sections of Cap 127 and Act 367, the 1992 Constitution, with case law including Coleman v. Shang and the presumption of advancement cases, it calls for repeal and re-enactment into...
Authors: Justice Alexander Osei Tutu & Victor Anku-Tsede Esq. Abstract In the recent unreported case of Gyedu Frimpong & 4 Ors. v. Joana Gyan Cudjoe & 2 Ors.[1], His Lordship Kulendi JSC, sitting as a single judge of the Supreme Court, held that a statement of case not filed contemporaneously with an affidavit supporting an...
Introduction Ghana’s land registration landscape is a complex tapestry woven from colonial legacy, post-independence reforms and customary practices. The Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036) currently introduces multiple regimes for land registration comprising deeds registration, title registration and customary law registration. Essentially, each regime has its own sets of rules, procedures, and implications for landowners and...
Introduction On the Republic Day last year, 2024, the topic, ‘The Clash of Two Legal Cultures” was deliberately chosen to emphasize how the common law sought to systematically “extinguish” customary law, but our indigenous law prevailed. As we celebrate another Republic Day on Tuesday, we have no option but to pause and reflect on our...
Introduction The Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036) of Ghana was enacted on the 23rd day of December 2020 to streamline land tenure system, enhance land administration and promote efficient land management. At its inception, the Act was gladly received by most Ghanaians. Not many would question if it was classified as one of the well-thought-out and...
“If property is indeed a relationship of socially approved control over a valued resource, it has become quite clear that in the Britain of the 21st century, adverse possession of land is a form of control which is no longer socially approved.”[1] Introduction The crux of property law of almost every legal system is adverse possession,...
Introduction Land ownership and possessory rights have always been contentious issues for land law practitioners, and the concept of adverse possession adds a new layer of complexity to these old-age issues. In the words of one researcher, “It would appear that in the arena of problematic doctrines of law, adverse possession carries the trophy in...
Introduction If an act is a nullity, in the eyes of the law, it is treated as if it never existed. At common law, the act is automatically void with or without an order of a court setting it aside.[1] In the locus classicus of Mosi v. Bagyina,[2] Akufo Addo JSC (as he then was),...
Introduction All too soon, the legal vacation has ended paving way for another busy legal year, in tandem with the tradition of our vocation. More often than not, the commencement of every legal year is characterized by the transfer of judges and judicial staff to new courts. The 2024 legal year, presumably, will not defy...