DECISION
APPLICATION FOR COMMITTAL FOR CONTEMPT
Introduction:
[1] The power of the High Court to punish for contempt is provided in Articles 19(12) and 126 of the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana, and re-enacted in S 36 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459) as amended; S10 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) and Order 50 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (CI 47). Order 50 of CI 47 sets the parameters by which an Applicant may move the court for an order for an attachment for contempt of court.
[2] It is instructive to note that Article 19 Clause 11 of the 1992 Constitution provides and emphasizes that no person shall be convicted of a criminal offence unless the offence is defined and the penalty for it is prescribed in a written law. However, the same Constitution, Article 19(12) empowers the court to punish for contempt notwithstanding that the act or omission constituting it is not defined in a written law and the penalty thereof not so prescribed.
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