Introduction Rules of court comes within the ambit of subsidiary legislation. Because it is a subsidiary legislation, our courts over the past two decades have ruled in legion of decided cases that any slip, mistake in any rules of procedure in civil litigation should be regarded as an irregularity but cannot nullify proceedings. In view...
Category: Civil Procedure
Is Akrong vrs. Bulley Still Good Law?
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...
Serving the Court’s Process on the Court: A Discussion on the Service of Court Processes
A legal claim, even an incontestable one, will not be noticed by the courts unless or until it is properly brought to the notice of the person against whom it is made. This other person may be the defendant, the respondent or an interested party in the case. It is this reason which, perhaps, makes...
Navigating the Maze of Striking Out Pleadings – A Hands-On Approach to Invoking the High Court’s Jurisdiction (2)
Must a Defendant Enter Appearance before Bringing an Application Under Order 11 Rule 18? Once a writ of summons with its accompanying statement of claim is served on a Defendant, the next step is for the Defendant to enter an appearance to the suit either by himself or through an appointed lawyer. The Defendant, after...
Navigating the Maze of Striking Out Pleadings – A Hands-On Approach to Invoking the High Court’s Jurisdiction (1)
Introduction Disputes and in effect litigation, are aspects of life that have been in existence since the days of old. The earliest form of a dispute is seen in the Bible in Genesis Chapter 13 versus 5-8 where a dispute arose between Abram and Lot over who should occupy the land which they found themselves...
Covid-19, Legal Practice and its Implications for Judicial Decision Making
On Wednesday 6th May 2020, His Lordship Justice Dennis D. Adjei, Justice of the Court of Appeal of Ghana and Honorific Dean of the GIMPA Faculty of Law, delivered via Zoom, the first edition of the GIMPA Law and Ethics Web Series on the theme: ‘COVID-19, Legal Practice and its Implications for Judicial Decision Making’. This...
In Pursuit of Justice: What if the Son of Man Has Nowhere to Lay His Head?
1.Introduction It is the dream of every Government for every citizen of that country to have a home or a job. Having a home or a job means that you will either have a residential address or an occupational address. The situation of men being homeless is unfortunately not a new development. Even the Lord...
Fair Trial in Civil Cases: A Right or A Privilege?
Introduction The concept of ‘fair trial’ was traditionally associated with criminal proceedings. This article seeks to examine the origin of the concept and how it has been recognized as a fundamental human right in a number of regional and international instruments. The telescope will be thrown at various jurisdictions to see how they have extended...
Raising Points of Law for the First Time on Appeal
The Supreme Court in Victoria Annang v Emoho & 4 Ors[1] has held that subject to a few exceptions, a party cannot raise a point of law for the first time on appeal. This case concerned parties to a lease agreement. The Plaintiff, granted a lease to S. Under the agreement, S was supposed to obtain the...
Injunctions Pending Appeal: When and How To Invoke The Jurisdiction Of Appellate Courts
1. Introduction Injunction applications are very common before trial courts. In litigation over land, the Plaintiff often files an injunction application almost at the same time that she files the Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim. The High Court’s jurisdiction to entertain injunction applications pending the final determination of a matter raises is without...