ESSIEM JA.: This is an appeal from the ruling of Sampson J sitting at the High Court, Accra by which he set aside the judgment of Dove J in this case. I should mention at the very beginning that at the time the application to set aside the judgment was brought before the court, Dove J had retired from the judiciary.
It was argued by the appellant that Sampson J had no jurisdiction to set aside the judgment of Dove J because they both had equal jurisdiction and that the way open to the respondent was to have appealed. In sum this was the main point canvassed by the appellant in this case while the respondent by his counsel contended that Sampson J had jurisdiction to deal with the application since Dove J had retired from the service at the time the application was made to the court.
Before dealing with the points raised in support of the appeal as well as the points raised against it, I want to give brief facts of the case. The writ in the case was issued in the High Court, Cape Coast a…