Is Legal Vacation intended for the Bench or the Bar?
The courtroom is not governed by the convenience of counsel. Equally, the interests of accused persons, victims, litigants and the public cannot be subordinated to professional convenience. I therefore respectfully disagree with the attempt to present the GBA’s position as settled “black-letter law”. The Bar is entitled to advocate for a convention, reform or administrative policy. It is not…
The legal discourse surrounding "legal vacation" in Ghana has revealed a common issue in legal discussions: the merging of customary practices, professional norms, and administrative routines with legally binding rules. The arguments put forth by the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and Sampson Lardy Anyenini, on the one hand, and the Deputy Attorney-General, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, and Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare (Kwaku Azar), on the other, both fail to recognize this fundamental distinction.
While a long-standing practice does not automatically become legal, the source argues that the statutory language in the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I. 47) supports the caution raised by the Deputy Attorney-General and Professor Azar. These rules state that vacation provisions are subject to the Chief Justice's power to appoint vacation days for hearings as circumstances require.
This qualification suggests that the rules do not outright prohibit court proceedings during vacation, but rather allow the Chief Justice to schedule hearings on vacation days when necessary. The source also highlights that criminal proceedings are governed by the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30), and that applying provisions from civil procedural rules to criminal trials could be problematic.
Ultimately, the source concludes that while a "legal vacation" may be a useful convention, it is not a judicial holiday that strips the court of its authority. Lawyers and litigants do not determine when the court should sit; the judiciary, subject to the Constitution and applicable laws, retains that power. The source emphasizes that lawyers have a professional obligation to attend court proceedings, and that their interests during vacation should not unilaterally override that duty.
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