Dr Justice Srem-Sai: Legal vacations and trials — why GBA President is in error

The President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has made two claims regarding legal proceedings during the country's legal vacation period. The first claim asserts that vacation judges do not take proceedings on the substance of cases or conduct trials during this time. The second claim argues that the decision to handle cases on the substance during the vacation is left to the lawyers involved rather than the judges. However, neither of these claims is supported by law, rules, practice, or reason.

To clarify, court proceedings consist of two types: substantive matters (trials and hearings on the merits of cases) and interlocutory matters (motions and summonses that do not determine the case finally). Courts scale down their operations during the legal vacation, but they do not cease entirely. A few judges are allowed to work over the vacation period, a decision made by the Chief Justice, the administrative head of the courts.

Vacation judges can handle two types of cases: those in their own court and cases in the courts of other judges on vacation. For cases in their own court, vacation judges can take both interlocutory and substantive proceedings. However, for cases from other courts, they can only handle interlocutory proceedings.

The GBA President's claims are incorrect because the power to decide whether to take proceedings on the substance of a case during a legal vacation lies with the judges, not the bar. The bar's primary duty is to their clients, not to the clients of other lawyers. This arrangement ensures the balance of interests among litigants, not the promotion of a lawyer's client over another's.

English and Ghanaian legal practices have traditionally allowed trials to continue during the legal vacation, and there is no power given to lawyers or their bodies to determine court proceedings.