Lack of editors of Ghana Bar Report bemoaned at book launching

Mr Benson Nutsukpui, a former president of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) at the weekend launched in Accra, a book "Commercial Law Reports of Ghana”, with a call on lawyers to avail themselves to edit the Ghana Bar Report.

He regretted that for three years he went on a fruitless search for an editor of the Ghana Bar Report before he struck a deal with Prof Kofi Quashigah, a legal expert and academic to start a team that would edit the Ghana Bar Report next year.

Mr Nutsukpui commended the editor of the Commercial Law Reports, Mr Edwin Dzokoto and his team for coming out with the publication, which he said, would make it easier for patrons to “have a first port of call in their search for commercial law knowledge.”

Mr Nutsupkui said: “I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the Editor, Godwin Djokoto, and his team of Assistant Editors: Portia Coffie, Robert Henry Gyabeng, Karen Adabia and Samuel Alesu-Dordzie for the great work they have done in editing and producing this Law Report.”

The former Bar President described the launching as historic and explained that the publication of Commercial Law Report (CLRG) marks a new dawn in the accessibility of Judgments in Commercial Law in Ghana.

He said: “Anyone who has ever been involved in the process of editing and reporting Judgments will admit that it takes a great deal of effort, attention to details and deeper understanding of the subject to report same,” he said, adding that, the publication should make it easier for patrons of Commercial Law including Judges, lawyers, law teachers and students to have a first port of call in their search for commercial law knowledge.”

According to Mr Nutsukpui, the publication of the Report marked the beginning of specific subject area Reports in Ghana as prior to the publication, all previous Law Reports in Ghana of recent memory have had a wide scope subject area of law and traversing all manner of subjects, both substantive and procedural.

“With this publication, it is my hope that the Editors and others will consider other areas of specialization to produce similar Law Reports and also begin to think about adding a periodic commercial law review,” Mr Nutsukpui said.

Also, Law Reports, journals and reviews does not only develop the law but bring to the fore the hard work, courage and industry of the legal generation earlier.

He commended the editor and his team for setting high standards in the publication, and urged them to produce future editions regularly, as a way of creating specialist knowledge in that area of Law.

Mr Dzokoto, the Editor, said he conceived the idea to produce Commercial Law Reports of Ghana three years ago, and described the Commercial Law Reports of Ghana as having a unique and limited focus of reporting cases of commercial character in the superior courts of judicature.

Mr Dzokoto and his team adopted the scope of cases of commercial character as delineated by Order 58 of the High Court Civil Procedure Rules (C147) and therefore, the subject areas of the cases that were reported includes banking and financial services, insurance and re-insurance; carriage of goods by sea, air, land or pipeline; intellectual property rights, and tax matters.

Others are disputes involving Commercial Arbitration; restructuring or payment of commercial debts; exploration of oil and gas reserves; disputes relating to the formation or governance of a business or commercial organization; winding up or bankruptcy.

In the maiden edition, twelve cases are reported covering the sale of goods, various aspects of banking such as the failure of bankers to keep customers mandate, anti-money laundering, the effect of spousal guarantees for credit, Know-Your Customer (KYC), improper custody of payment means, reliance on letters of guarantee as security for the extension of credit.

The other cases cover aviation, maritime law particularly the arrest of sister-ships under Ghanaian law and contract law in general.

The cases reported in the maiden edition span almost a decade from 2008 to 2017; and the Judgments reported have been carefully selected on a number of criteria, including the novelty or uniqueness of legal questions answered, depth of research and clarity.

The Reports also sought to address the growing trend of not reporting High Court Judgments.

The Editor expressed conviction that Judgments of the High Court form an essential part of the legal heritage, and called on legal practitioners to strive to preserve them.

Present at the launching was Mr Godfred Odame, the Deputy Attorney General.