<u>Dr. Poku Adusei, J.A.</u>
Before this court is an application for judicial review for writs of certiorari and prohibition directed at the Circuit Court, Kwadaso Kumasi. Whereas certiorari orders are employed to remedy past errors, prohibition orders arc employed to prevent what was to be done from being done. Republic v. Accra; Ex GMA (Arcmann-Ackummey - Interested Party) [2012] 2 SCGLR 768 (holding 1).
At the threshold, counsel for the interested parties has raised preliminary legal objections to the capacity/locus standi of the applicant herein. The twin legal concepts of capacity and locus standi are separate and distinct. In Florini Luca & Another v. Samir & 2 Others [J4/49/2020] Pwamang JSC underscored the distinction between capacity and locus standi as follows:
It is pertinent to recognise that though capacity and locus standi are
closely related and in many instances arise together in cases in court
they are separate legal concepts. Capacity properly so-called relates
to the juristic persona and competence to sue in a court of law and it
becomes an issue where an individual sues not in her own personal
right but states a certain capacity on account of which she is
proceeding in court. But locus standi relates to the legal interest
that a party claims in the subject matter of a suit in court. This may
be dependent on the provisions of the statute that confers the right
to sue, such as the Fatal Accidents Acts in Akrong v. Bulley.
Otherwise, generally locus standi depends on whether the party has a
legal or equitable right that she seeks to enforce or protect by suing
in court.
The crux of the challenge to the applicant's capacity and/or legal standing by the interested parties was that the applicant was not a relative of the late Alberta Mead @ Alberta Danso. For counsel for the interested parties, it was only a relative of a deceased who could mount an action to challenge his or her estate. I must point out that this contention by the interested parties was misconceived. Having an interest, be it legal or equitable, in any portion of the estate of a deceased could form a basis to file an action in respect of that estate.
In an application for the writs of certiorari or prohibition at the High Court pursuant to order 55 rule 3 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I. 47), the only necessary pre-condition was for the applicant to establish the occurrence of an event giving grounds for makin
