A Retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, Professor Justice Samuel Kofi Date-Bah, has been honoured with a Life Time Achievement Award at a ceremony organized by the University of Professional Studies law faculty in Accra.
Professor Justice Samuel Kofi Date-Bah served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana from 2003 to 2013.
Prior to that, he served as a Special Legal Adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London for twenty years 1984 to 2003 responsible for legal advisory and negotiating service to developing member states of the commonwealth.
Prof. Justice Samuel Kofi Date-Bah said, that despite the rise in the number of books written by Ghanaian legal scholars, legal academia in Ghana needs to raise its game and produce more scholars to assist the judiciary in its adjudication.
In cautioning members of the Bar, Prof. Justice Date-Bah said, “It is easy to fall into the era of a humanistic application of the law under the pressure of the day-to-day discharge of the responsibilities of their specific legal roles. The legal academia in Ghana needs to raise its game and produce more scholars to assist the judiciary in its adjudication”.
He however charged members of the Bar to engage with other relevant stakeholders in the decision-making in their specific legal roles.
Speaking at the ceremony, Her Ladyship Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Torkonoo, eulogised Professor Justice Samuel Kofi Date-Bah and mentioned that his astute career, which spans academic, legal advisory and judicial roles at the national and international levels, is worthy of celebration.
“Professor Justice Samuel Kofi Date-Bah is a distinguished individual, who has dedicated his lifetime to upholding the ideals of personal integrity, the reality of justice and the rule of law. And his legacy from these noble pursuits will forever be edged in minds, hearts and national history.
Professor Justice Samuel Kofi Date-Bah is one such paradigm of strength, wisdom and generosity, whose contributions have shaped the course of our nation’s legal institutions, the very framework of law. And who has also worked tirelessly to ensure that the pillars of democracy remain unshaken,” Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Torkonoo said.
Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame, in his address, said the accomplishments of Prof. Date-Bah in the law have become the cornerstone of study.
“Justice Date-Bah’s works on contract law have become the cornerstone of the study of thought in contract law for many. His return to Ghana in 2003 marked by his appointment to the Supreme Court further boosted his contribution to legal education, as he enriched the study of law in Ghana generally with very insightful judgement on a variety of subjects ranging from constitutional law to business transactions. It is in that span of a decade in the Supreme Court that Justice Date-Bah left his most lasting legacy for Ghana law”.
