MARTIN KPEBU vs. ATTORNEY-GENERAL [2016]DLSC2773

Date	2016-12-05
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEAL NO. J1/8/2015
Citation No.	[2016]DLSC2773

WOOD CJ (MRS) PRESIDING JSC

ADINYIRA (MRS) JSC

DOTSE JSC

ANIN YEBOAH JSC

GBADEGBE JSC

BENIN JSC

AKAMBA JSC

MR. MARTIN KPEBU ESQ. FOR HIMSELF.

MRS. DOROTHY AFRIYIE ANSAH (CHIEF STATE ATTORNEY) WITH HER VICTORIA ADORTEY (ASSISTANT ATTORNEY) FOR THE DEFENDANT

[2016]DLSC2773
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >MARTIN KPEBU<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>ATTORNEY-GENERAL<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;[SUPREME COURT, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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CIVIL
APPEAL NO. J1/8/2015&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;DATE: 5TH DECEMBER, 2016<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<o:p></o:p>MR. MARTIN KPEBU ESQ. FOR HIMSELF.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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MRS. DOROTHY AFRIYIE ANSAH
(CHIEF STATE ATTORNEY) WITH HER VICTORIA ADORTEY (ASSISTANT ATTORNEY) FOR THE
DEFENDANT<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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WOOD CJ
(MRS) PRESIDING ADINYIRA (MRS) JSC DOTSE JSC ANIN YEBOAH JSC GBADEGBE JSC BENIN
JSC AND AKAMBA JSC<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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JUDGEMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>AKAMBA,
JSC:<o:p></o:p>BACKGROUND<o:p></o:p>Following
the adoption of the Constitution of Ghana in 1993, it was considered necessary
to clean the statute books of obsolete and unwanted pieces of legislation and
to among others, rationalize the titling of legislation in order to bring them
in line with the new constitutional democracy. <o:p></o:p>This
was the justification for the bill by which the Statute Law Revision Project
(SLRP) was passed in 1998. (See Vol 20 No 23 Parliamentary Debates of 18th
December 1998). The Statute Law Revision Commissioner (SLRC) (hereafter simply
referred to as Commissioner) was given very far reaching powers to rewrite all
the laws in plain English, to bring the language in line with current usage and
to be in conformity with the Constitution. The full extent of the powers given
the Commissioner would be discussed in this judgment. Ten years after the initiation
of the project, seven revised volumes of the ‘Laws of Ghana (Revised Edition)’
were put before Parliament and adopted en masse or en bloc on 14th
December 2006. They are however deemed to have come into force on 31st
December 2004 as indicated in Volume 1 of the Laws of Ghana (Revised Edition).<o:p></o:p>Since
the adoption of the new volumes, the plaintiff herein has some misgivings about
certain changes in the resultant compilations. The plaintiff consequently
issued a writ on 9th January 2015 invoking this court’s original
jurisdiction for the redress of his concerns as per the reliefs sought.<o:p></o:p>The reliefs sought by the plaintiff are as follows:<o:p></o:p>(i)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
“A
declaration that the powers granted the Law Review Commissioner under section 2
of the Laws of Ghana (Revised Edition) Act, 1998 (Act 562) to “make adaptations
of and amendments to Acts in order to bring those Acts into conformity with the
Constitution of Ghana, 1992” does not include the power to make alterations of
substance, and therefore the omission of marital consent as a defence for the
use of force in section 42 (g) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29) is
null, &nbsp;void and of no effect for being
contrary to article 93 (2) of the Constitution, 1992.<o:p></o:p>(ii)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
A
declaration that the Constitution (1992) vests legislative power in Parliament
and the amendment made to section 42 (g) of Act 29 is null, void and of no
effect as it usurps the powers that the 1992 Constitution expressly,
exclusively and specifically conferred to Parliament under 93 (2) of the 1992
Constitution.<o:p></o:p>