LAW AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: THE SUPPLY OF PRECEDENTS IN GHANA

Author: BOADU, FREDERICK OWUSU

Source: Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, Volume 5, Number 1, 2005 , pp. 1-28(28)

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The Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal (OUCLJ) is the flagship journal of Oxford University's postgraduate law community, produced under the aegis of the Law Faculty.
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Abstract:

Ghanaian courts are evolving a Ghanaian common law by adapting English precedents to conditions and traditions of the country. The supply of Ghanaian precedents helps determine how appropriate legal principles promote economic development. Using a law and economics framework, the paper finds that government's monopoly in the law market raises the transaction costs associated with using law library resources, (law reports, treatises, and law books), thereby stifling supply of precedents. Lack of searchable legal databases, finding aides, and information-processing facilities at the courts, and related agencies adversely affect the evolution of a Ghanaian common law. Also, while the transition to a market-based development approach encouraged the use of English precedents, persistent military interference in constitutional rule slowed the evolution of a Ghanaian common law. Private sector participation in the legal market would increase supply of Ghanaian precedents.

Keywords: Ghanaian law; Precedents; Supply of Precedents; Law and Economics; Law Reports; Ghanaian Common Law; Ghanaian Customary Law; English Precedents; Development of Precedents; Post-Colonial Law

Document Type: Research article