- 20 Marks
BCL – L1 – Q12 – Sources of Law
Question
BrightFuture Junior High School
(a) BrightFuture Junior High School (JHS) has seen a tremendous increase in students’ enrolment due to the school’s excellent performance and compulsory free French lessons. Dr. Amoako, the proprietor and owner of the school decides to expand as the current location is inadequate. He follows up on a piece of land which he bought 20 years ago at Asamankese only to be told that the land was resold to Mr. Tetteh by the Chief. Mr Tetteh has been in possession and living on that land for the past 18 years and Dr. Amoako never exercised his right until now. He has rushed to you as a business law student employed as the General Manager of the school to provide professional advice on the matter.
Required:
Write a memo to provide professional advice on the matte
BrightFuture Junior High School
(b) The High Court in Nexis has been categorized into various divisions in order to help promote specialization. List the four (4) divisions and explain their functions.
Answer
(a). Under the Limitation of Actions Act, the right of entry or bringing action to recover land or rent, limited to twelve (12) years.
Delay defeats equity:
Laches is an unreasonable delay in enforcing a right.
If there is an unreasonable delay in bringing proceedings the case may be disallowed in equity. Acquiescence is where one party breaches another’s rights and that party doesn’t take an action against them they may not be allowed to pursue this claim at a later stage. These may be used as defences in relation to equity cases. For a defence of laches courts must decide whether the plaintiff has delayed unreasonably in bringing forth their claim and the defence of acquiescence can be used if the actions of the defendant suggest that they are not going ahead with the claim so it is reasonable for the other party to assume that there is no claim. (Nelson v Rye 1996)
Since Dr Amoako did not exercise his right for the past 18 years, he has lost claim to the land under the Limitation of Actions Act since the time has exceeded 12 years.
(b). Candidate is to provide the purpose for any five of these courts:
Fast Track Division;
Commercial Division;
Land Division;
Human Right;
Family Court;
Labour Division and the
Economic and Financial Crimes Division
- Tags: Court Specialization, Ghana Courts, High Court Divisions, Judiciary
- Level: Level 1
- Uploader: Samuel Duah