Introduction Not too long ago, there was an information on social media, particularly on Whatsapp platforms to the effect that, if you put a caretaker on your land, he takes ownership of the land after being in possession for ten (10) years. The panic it caused to many Ghanaians was so telling and manifest. Since...
Introduction In 2014, Citifmonline.com[i] reported a news item in which a family lawyer and former lecturer of the Ghana Law School, Dr. Kofi Adinkrah who incidentally happened to be my Family Law lecturer[ii], in a post captioned ‘Prenups don’t generate controversy’, urged “Ghanaian couples to enter into prenuptial agreements to tackle unforeseen challenges associated with...
Introduction Year 2021 gives some glimpses of hope universally coming straight from 2020, a year that the world was wracked with the deadly Covid-19 Pandemic. God always uses His word to speak to us. Sometimes too, He uses human authorities and establishments around us to accomplish his purpose (Isaiah 45:1, Romans 13: 1-2). In Exodus...
Introduction One person who has probably litigated more than any other person under the sun is ‘John Doe’. He is indubitably known to the laws of many countries, including civil law jurisdictions; albeit with different identities. Nonetheless, it appears that he has been banned from Ghana. Like the closure of our airports and borders for...
Towards the last quarter of the 19th Century, a very important ‘marriage’ was celebrated in England that brought together two hitherto hostile, but independent personalities. This newly wedded couple was the common law and equity. So important was their holy solemnization that it took a statute (i.e. the Judicature Act of 1873-1875) to tie them down...
Introduction On 24th November 1933, the Privy Council delivered a decision that has had far reaching consequences on not only our jurisprudence but British West Africa in general. The case was Abotche Kponuglo and Others v. Adja Kodadja[i](known in our law reports simply as: Kponuglo v. Kodadja and in this article as ‘the Kodadja case’). The ratio of...
Introduction It is common knowledge that capacity is a fundamental legal principle in the commencement of any legal suit, the lack of which strips a plaintiff of his or her locus. For many years, the law as established in the case of Akrong & Another vrs. Bulley (infra) had been that a plaintiff who issued a...
The Facts of the Case In the case of Hayford Ofosu Amaning v. The Republic[i], the High Court had tried summarily an accused person who was charged with robbery and attempted murder. The accused was convicted on both counts and sentenced to a term of twenty-five years. The sentences were to run concurrently. Consequently, the accused...
1.Introduction Perhaps, it may surprise you to know that a conviction by a lower court, not appealed against by the convicted person or his lawyer can find its way to the Supreme Court to be determined on appeal for the first time. Maybe, it might further surprise you to know that the President can ‘cede’ his...
Introduction Succession is an integral part of customary law and since customary law is part of the laws of Ghana[i] and for that matter the Ghana Legal System; a clearer understanding of the subject of succession will no doubt be of great importance to the practitioners and students of the legal profession. Over the years, there...