Faculty of Law
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The Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana is the premier centre for legal education in Ghana and continues to lead the way in preparing students for the legal profession.
The Faculty was first established as a department of the Faculty of Social Studies in the 1958/59 academic year and became a full fledged Faculty in the 1960/61 academic year.
The Faculty is distinguished by an enviable pedigree. From its inception, it has been a seat of intellectual excellence, a fact borne out by the national and international achievements and stature of its alumni.
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Item Doing research with police elites in Ghana(Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2018-07) Sowatey, E.A.; Tankebe, J.Much of our methodological insights from researching policing in sub-Saharan Africa comes from studies of frontline officers. Consequently, many important methodological questions about research on senior police officers remain unanswered. This article addresses this gap by drawing on insights from interviewing senior officers in Ghana. It focuses on the challenges and opportunities in negotiating access, establishing trust during interviews and dealing with ethical dilemmas. We highlight the role of informal social networks and cultural practices of surprise visits, what we have termed strategic ambush, in securing formal approval for our research. However, this represented mere or putative access for which deference towards institutional gatekeepers was key to its actualization. Deference towards officers and extensive knowledge of the policing environment helped to put the senior officers at ease, and enhanced the chances of a successful interview. Finally, we offer reflections on our responses to unexpected ethical dilemmas that we faced in the field.Item Consumer Law and Policy in Ghana(Journal of Consumer Policy, 2018-12) Dowuona-Hammond, C.This paper presents a picture of the landscape of consumer law and policy in Ghana and reviews the scope of protection of consumer interests with specific regard to product safety and liability, consumer sales, and telecommunication services. It assesses the legislative and policy framework on consumer contracts, product safety, and unfair commercial practices; discusses the role of national agencies in enforcing safety standards; and highlights some critical consumer issues in telecommunications service delivery. The paper examines the regulatory framework on other consumer issues such as advertising, labelling, and marketing of consumer products; terms and conditions of consumer contracts; and after sales services including the enforcement of guarantees, warranties, refund, and return policies. The paper also discusses the extent of external influence on the development of consumer law and policy in Ghana and reviews the level of interaction with other legal systems and supranational bodies in the three focal areas. The contribution also explores areas of Ghana’s consumer protection framework which could benefit from guidance from the EU transnational model on consumer protection and makes recommendations for the enhancement of the emerging legislative and policy regime on consumer protection in Ghana. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.Item “Reforming the law of intestate succession in a legally plural Ghana”(Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 2019-04) Hammond, A.There has been minimal compliance with Ghana’s Intestate Succession Act, 1985, (PNDC Law 111) especially by communities in rural areas whose lives are governed almost exclusively by customary law. This is because the state and customary legal systems have failed to reconcile their perceptions of law and legal responsibilities. Drawing on legal pluralism as a practical guiding framework for analyzing the relationship between states and customary legal systems, and focusing on the law of intestate succession, I argue that in order for legal reforms to be embraced, especially by rural dwellers, the state must adopt what may be termed, the mutual concession approach to legal reforms, a structured and principled discretionary approach that seeks to balance the valued interests of both legal systems, and which promises to be more agreeable to rural dwellers in ways that ensure compliance with state law.Item Rationalising the basis for utilization of compulsorily acquired property in Ghana: Issues arising(Land Use Policy, 2019-02) Dowuona-Hammond, C.This paper discusses the evolution, current status and future prospects of the governance framework on compulsory acquisition in Ghana with particular emphasis on the scope of the state’s prerogative to determine the purpose for which compulsorily acquired lands may be utilized. The paper examines how the concept of public interest has been interpreted and applied in assessing the utilization of compulsorily acquired lands against the background of expanding developmental and infrastructural needs, the state’s evolving role in economic development, increasing pressure on land resulting from rapid population growth and urbanization; and drastic changes in land use and demand in recent times. The paper comments on the judicial interpretation of the governance framework on compulsory acquisition in the 1992 Constitution and examines the legislative proposals on the utilization of acquired lands made in the Land Bill, which is currently under consideration by Parliament prior to enactment. Some recommendations are offered toward the achievement of a more balanced approach to the determination of legitimate uses of compulsorily acquired lands in Ghana based on the constitutional governance framework on compulsory acquisition.Item The impact of structural adjustment Programs on women's international human rights: The example of Ghana(Human Rights of Women: National and International Perspectives, 2011) Kuenyehia, A.This paper is not an economic analysis of Economic Recovery Programs, neither does it seek to put forward any economic ideas. It is simply an attempt to put in the context of human rights the privations suffered by a section of one society as a result of programs fashioned by international financial institutions for the solution of the economic problems that have beset our nation for many years. The paper looks at the nature of these programs in the special context of Ghana and advocates that, important as it is that the economy be put on a sound basis, it is also necessary that the social cost of these programs be considered carefully and that every attempt be made to alleviate them so that the people most affected adversely would have a chance to enjoy their human rights. © 1994 by the University of Pennsylvania Press. All rights reserved.