EMMANUEL ASHALLEY ASHLEY v. THE GENERAL LEGAL COUNCIL & THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL

SOPHIA ADINYIRA (MRS.) J.S.C.: In 1959, the plaintiff/appellant (hereinafter appellant) was enrolled as a student in the Middle Temple, England. By 1965, he had passed all the prescribed examination papers except one paper in which he was referred. In 1972 he passed his referred paper and was called to the English Bar that same year. In 1977 the appellant was appointed to the Bench in Ghana as a District Magistrate Grade II. Thereafter he was appointed as a District Magistrate Grade 1 in 1979 and a Circuit Court Judge in 1986 respectively. After 15 years of service on the Bench, the appellant claimed he was being considered for appointment to the High Court when an objection was raised that he was not on the Roll of Lawyers in Ghana and he also did not possess a university degree. On the basis of these objections the plaintiff was retired from the Bench in 1992. After he left the Bench he was appointed a Notary Public but this was also revoked in 1998 on the grounds that he was not a legal practitioner. Being dissatisfied with this treatment, which he considered, was discriminatory; the appellant mounted an action at the High Court Accra claiming: (to be inserted)

The defendants/respondents (hereinafter respondents) stoutly resisted the appellant’s claim on the main ground that though the appellant was called to the English Bar in 1972 he was not qualified to be enrolled on the Roll of Lawyers in Ghana as he did not meet the requirements under the Legal Profession Act (Amendment) No2 Decree, 1967, NLCD 213(hereinafter NLCD 213). The High Court dismissed the appellant’s action. The appellant again lost on appeal to the Court of Appeal but was granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

We do not expect to set out here the numerous grounds of appeal filed by the appellant, which in our opinion are winding and more of arguments and narratives rather than proper grounds of appeal. They will be referred to in the course of this judgment. The whole of the appellant’s case throughout the trial and his grounds of appeal can be succinctly captured in just two issues. They are, (i) whether the appellant who was enrolled in the Middle Temple in 1959 and was called to the English Bar in 1972 was caught by NLCD 213 which was passed in 1967 but came into effect in 1971 and (ii) whether the respondents were estopped from retiring the appellant from the Bench on the basis that he did not possess a university degree and was not on the Roll of Lawyers in Ghana, after th