HENRY NUERTEY KORBOE v. FRANCIS AMOSA
2016
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- ATUGUBA JSC
- ANSAH JSC
- DOTSE JSC
- YEBOAH JSC
- BAFFOE-BONNIE JSC
- AKOTO-BAMFO (MRS) JSC
- AKAMBA JSC
Areas of Law
- Legal Profession
- Professional Conduct
- Judicial Process
2016
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The case revolves around whether legal processes initiated by a lawyer without a valid solicitors license should be invalidated. The Supreme Court majority held that such processes are invalid, while the dissenting opinion argued that this would unjustly penalize the client.
MAJORITY OPINION
DOTSE JSC:
I have had the benefit of the judgment authored by my very well respected and illustrious brother, and President of this Court, Atuguba JSC.
Save for the conclusions arrived at by my respected brother that the appeal herein fails and should be dismissed, I entirely agree with the narration of the facts of the case as well as the analysis of the laws and the cases referred to therein.
However, it is quite apparent to me that one basic reason of my inability to accept the conclusion reached by my brother Atuguba JSC, stems from my disagreement with the meaning ascribed to sections 2 and 8(1) of the Legal Profession Act, 1960 (Act 32). It is worth observing that, Act 32 was enacted to consolidate and amend the laws relating to the legal profession as has been captured in the long title and preamble.
Section 2 of Act 32 states as follows:-
Status of Lawyers
“A person whose name is entered on the Roll kept under section 6
(a) is entitled , subject to Section 8, to practice as a lawyer, whether as a barrister or solicitor or both, the fees, charges and disbursement for services rendered as a lawyer, and
(b) is an officer of the Courts, and
(c) is subject, when acting as a lawyer, to the liabilities that attach by law to a Solicitor.”
Section 8 (1) on the other hand provides as follows:-
“A person other than the Attorney-General, or an officer of the Attorney-General’s department, shall not practice as a Solicitor unless that person has in respect of that practice a valid annual Solicitor’s license issued by the Council duly stamped and in the form set out in the second schedule.”
The crux of the issues raised in this appeal, in my mind depends entirely on the meaning ascribed to the mandatory provisions in section 8 (1) of Act 32 which provides that a person other than the Attorney-General or his representative shall not practice as a Solicitor unless that person has a valid annual Solicitors license issued by the General Legal Council.
Chambers, 21st Century Dictionary, Revised Edition, page 1089 states the following as the meaning of practice, relevant to the circumstances in which the word has been used therein in section 8 (1) of Act 32 as;
“to work at or follow an art or profession, especially law or medicine.”
Black’s Law Dictionary, Ninth Edition, by Bryan A. Garner, at page 9 defines Lawyer as a noun to mean – “one who is licensed to practice law.”
On page 1291, the learned author of Black’s Law Dictionary des