Renowned law scholar, Prof Stephen Asare, popularly known as Kwaku Azar, has called for an end to the traditional three-month legal vacation in Ghana’s judiciary, describing it as a “19th-century mode of thinking”.
In a Facebook post on Friday, August 2, Prof. Asare argued that the legal vacation was initially designed to allow colonial-era judges to travel back to their home countries for a month’s rest, with an additional two months added for travel time by ship.
He questioned the relevance of maintaining this practice in modern times, especially when the judiciary is faced with a significant case backlog.
To address this, Prof. Asare suggested increasing the number of Supreme Court justices to 20, but emphasized that this should be accompanied by the abolition of legal vacations.
“GOGO will scrap legal vacations on Day 1,” he declared.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo has dismissed suggestions to cancel the legal vacation stipulated in the procedure rules of Superior Courts.
Addressing the Greater Accra Bar’s end-of-legal-year party on July 31, 2024, Justice Torkornoo assured lawyers and Judicial Service staff that neither she nor the Rules of Court Committee, which she chairs, is considering abolishing the legal vacation.
She emphasized the importance of the break, citing the need for lawyers and judicial staff to rest and recharge.
Legal Vacation
Order 79 Rule 4 of C.I. 47, High Court Civil Procedure Rules, which stipulates the timelines for legal vacation and has repetition by way of wording in Rule 61 of C.I. 19, Court of Appeal Rules, and Rule 82 of C.I. 16, Supreme Court Rules, reads as follows:
Rule 4-Vacations
Subject to rule 1 (1) the following periods shall be observed in the High Court as vacations:
(a) the period commencing on the Tuesday immediately following Easter Monday in each year and ending on the Friday immediately following;
(b) the period commencing on 1st August in each year and ending on 30th September in the year; and
(c) the period commencing on 23rd December in each year and ending on 6th January in the next year.
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