"Avoid professional negligence", Mr Justice Anin advises lawyers

Accra (Greater Accra), 30th June 99 -

Mr Justice Patrick D. Anin, a retired judge of the Supreme Court has advised lawyers to exhibit accurate legal construction within their professional competence and conscience.

He stressed that anything less would be a disservice and would be tantamount to "culpable professional negligence", for which they could be sanctioned or penalised".

Mr Justice Anin said this in the second and last of this years' "Sarkodie, Koranteng-Addow and Agyepong Memorial Lectures, organised by the Ghana Bar Association (GBA).

His topic was "The need for legal advisers/advocates/judges to adopt a generous purposive construction, and not a literal or grammatical or restrictive construction, which overlooks relevant context and meaning".

The annual lectures were instituted by the GBA in memory of three high court judges, Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, Mr Justice Fred Poku Sarkodee and Mr Justice Kwadwo A. Agyepong, who were abducted and killed in June, 1982.

The theme for the two-day lectures was, "The need for the GBA and the Bench to develop Human Rights Jurisprudence and the Rule of Law through Legal or Judicial Activism and Creativity".

The retired judge emphasised that lawyers need not play to the political gallery and that if the relevant law has not been violated, "it is unpardonable for a legal adviser to recommend a prosecution to the detriment of the innocent accused person.

'If an "untutored" policeman in criminal law and procedure adopts this position, he could be sympathised with and forgiven for his ignorance.

"But for a learned public lawyer to adopt this strategy is indeed unfortunate, for it is his responsibility and duty to offer the correct professional advice".

Touching on the interpretation of the constitution, the retired judge advised Supreme Court judges to avoid the method of sticking to the literal, grammatical or dictionary meaning of isolated words in the constitution

without reference to the context in which the words are used.

He explained that "such a literal method, divorced from a generous and purposive construction, cannot attain the grand objects and commitments of freedom and justice, rule of law and protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms".

Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, a legal practitioner, who presided, urged lawyers and judges to help ensure that democracy thrive in the country.