Common to all democratic states, every person is entitled to his right to personal liberty and freedom of movement. This right, just like any other human right, has limits. In article 14(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the right to liberty can be curtailed when a person is suspected to have committed a criminal offence. A person may be arrested with or without a warrant. In Ghana, four categories of arrests without a warrant exist. They are arrests by officers of law enforcement agencies [i] , private citizens arrests [ii] , arrests by judges [iii] and arrests by senior prosecuting officers of the Legal Service [iv] . In all these cases, the entity authorised to detain an arrested suspect in lawful custody is a law enforcement agency. This short write-up will set out the processes after an arrested person is placed in custody. The constitution permits detention for a period of not more than 48 hours after the arrest. [v] At the end of that period, the detaining...
Introduction The purpose of this article is simply to educate readers on the effect of a repeal on pending criminal trials. I also consider the effect of a repeal on the prescribed sentence of a repealed criminal offence. The end of a criminal statute or an offence creating provision in a statute can be by way of a repeal in subsequent legislation or by a Supreme Court declaration that the statute or a provision therein is void because it is inconsistent with the 1992 constitution. [i] The effect of a repeal is trite: the repealed law, whether an Act of Parliament or a provision in an Act, ceases to have effect [ii] except as to matters that had already been dealt with. The interesting thing is this: in criminal law, repeals and savings provisions have different effects, first on offences and second, on actions taken based on the substantive laws i.e., a criminal trial. These will be addressed in turn. The Effect of Repeals on Offences - The Legality Principle...