THE REPUBLIC vs. HIGH COURT (COMM. DIV.) ACCRA EX PARTE; ATTORNEY GENERAL AND OTHERS

The case concerns the detention of the Argentinian warship ARA Fragata Libertad at Tema Harbour by Ghanaian authorities pursuant to a High Court order in a suit filed by the 1st Interested Party against Argentina (2nd Interested Party). The 1st Interested Party sought to enforce a US judgment debt against Argentina, leading to the arrest of the warship. Argentina challenged the detention, claiming sovereign immunity. The High Court refused to set aside the detention order, interpreting a waiver clause in a Fiscal Agency Agreement (FAA) as a waiver of sovereign immunity by Argentina. Subsequently, the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea ordered Ghana to release the ship. The Attorney General applied for certiorari and prohibition to quash the High Court orders to comply with international obligations.

DR. DATE- BAH JSC: Introductory Analysis of the Relationship between International Law and Ghanaian Municipal Law. This case raises important issues on the nature of the relationship between international law and municipal law in Ghana. The main purpose of the learned Attorney-General in bringing this application for certiorari and prohibition would seem to be to enable the Republic to comply with the orders of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (hereafter referred to as the “Tribunal”), established under the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention. This circumstance raises the question, quite apart from the other legal issues which arise in this case, whether this court or any other court of Ghana is obliged to enforce the orders of the Tribunal. Before entering into the full details of the facts of this case, it would thus be worth our while to examine this question of the relationship between international law and municipal law in Ghana. Ghanaian law on this...