REPUBLIC vs. HIGH COURT, HO; EX PARTE EVANGELICAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF GHANA AND ANOTHER

This is an application for certiorari in which the defendant-applicants (hereinafter referred to as the defendants) are asking that a ruling of the High Court, Ho dated 19 October 1990, should be brought up and quashed on the ground that the said court lacked jurisdiction, or else exceeded its jurisdiction. The question to be resolved at the outset is whether the plaintiff-respondents (hereinafter referred to as the plaintiffs) were in order in going to the High Court with any application at all. Did the High Court have jurisdiction to entertain the application? In other words, after an appeal has been lodged with the Court of Appeal against a decision of the High Court, at what point in time does the High Court cease to have jurisdiction to take applications relative to the subject-matter of the appeal? Rule 21 of the Court of Appeal Rules, 1962 (L.I. 218) says: “21. After an appeal has been entered and until it has been finally disposed of, the Court [of Appeal] shall be seised o.....