[1972]DLCA2421 • January 24, 1972 • Court of Appeal
SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE DE COMPENSATION vs. MOSHIE ACKERMAN
The plaintiff, Moshe Ackerman, was employed by the defendants, Société Générale de Compensation, as a works supervisor at their building site in Tema, Ghana, under a written contract dated 4 April 1966 and a supplementary agreement dated 13 June 1966. The contract was for a fixed term of three years, inclusive of a probation period initially of three months extended to four months. The plaintiff was dismissed summarily during the probation period on 6 July 1966, with reasons unrelated to professional or disciplinary grounds as stipulated in the contract. The plaintiff sued for wrongful dismissal and damages.
read moreThis appeal from a judgment of the High Court, Accra, highlights the important doctrine of the proper law of a contract in the field of conflict of laws or private international law. The basic facts for the ascertainment of the proper law were on the whole not in issue in this case. The real bone of controversy between the parties to this appeal was the application of the principles and rules of law to the facts of the case. Learned counsel for both parties invoked rival rules and presumptions in support of their opposing submissions on behalf of their clients. Under a written agreement dated 4 April 1966 (exhibit A) and a supplementary agreement dated 13 June 1966 (exhibit B2), the plaintiff-respondent (hereinafter called the plaintiff) was employed as works supervisor by the defendants-appellants (hereinafter referred to as the defendants) at their building site at Tema. Both agreements are hereby reproduced in full: “SOCIETE GENERALE DE COMPENSATION 55-57, AVENUE KLEBER .....