IN RE THE PREVENTIVE DETENTION ACT, 1958 AND IN RE OKINE AND OTHERS AND IN RE APPLICATION FOR WRITS OF HABEAS CORPUS SUBJICIENDUM

JUDGMENT OF VAN LARE J.A. Van Lare, J.A. delivered the judgment of the court: The appellants, who are represented by Dr. Danquah before us, were detained on the 10th November, 1958 under an order made in pursuance of section 2 (1) of the Preventive Detention Act, 1958. They sought to secure their release from detention by process of an application for a writ of habeas corpus, which application came before Smith J. in the Divisional Court, Accra. The learned judge gave his ruling, by which he dismissed the application, on the 10th January, 1959. From this ruling the detainees sought to appeal to this court, where arguments have been confined to a preliminary point raised by Mr. Amissah, Acting Senior Crown Counsel, on behalf of the respondents (the Minister of Defence and the Director of Prisons). This preliminary point is stated as follows: That there is no right of appeal to the Court of Appeal from a refusal of the Divisional Court to grant a writ of habeas corpus ad subji...