The first 64 cases 1974-1982
Volume 1 of the Sierra Leone Bar Association Reports available here
The project to establish a set of law reports for Sierra Leone has a long history ...
The genesis of this initiative came from a conversation between Anthony Kinnear and Abdul Tejan-Cole in 2004, when they discussed the urgent need to establish a system of law reporting in Sierra Leone. Kinnear, who has a long career in law reporting, agreed to take on the role of General Editor, working with the Sierra Leone Bar Association, a team of dedicated lawyers from Sierra Leone including Floyd Alex Davies, Yada Williams, Glenna Thompson and Susan Sisay, and other volunteers to collect and edit important judgments, check citations, prepare head notes, compile catchwords and indexes.
In 2007, the first volume of 64 cases decided between 1974-1982 were launched in a speech by Yada Williams at the Annual Sierra Leone Bar Association Conference on 12 July 2007. The cases were printed in a single volume as [1974-82] 1 SLBAR. The full text of these cases is available here and the index to these cases is available here.
FOREWORD TO [1974-82] 1 SLBAR
These Sierra Leone Bar Association Reports constitute the fifth valiant attempt to make a faithful record of Selected Judgments of the Superior Courts of Judicature, as an adjunct to the administration of justice in post-war Sierra Leone. The first volume of Sierra Leone Law Reports covering the period 1912-1924 was compiled by the late Michael F. J. McDonnell, M.A. former Attorney-General, a distinguished predecessor.
The late Sir Ernest Beoku Betts, Acting Chief Justice followed with a remarkable second attempt with the publication of the Sierra Leone Recorder in 1949, three volumes of law reports covering cases of the then Supreme Court (now the High Court) and the former West Africa Court of Appeal. The third venture was the Sierra Leone Law Reports published by the Government of Sierra Leone in 3 volumes in 1966 embracing selected cases of the Superior Courts of Judicature from 1960-1963. These reports were followed by the publication of the Africa Law Reports (Sierra Leone Series) by Donor Organisations in 1969 covering cases of the Supreme Courts of Judicature for the period 1952 to 1972. Regrettably these series were not continued and law reporting lapsed into the dark ages punctuated by desperate calls for a continuation of these reports and the creation of an official continuous authorised version of Reports of Sierra Leone Judgments and reduction of reliance on English and Commonwealth Cases, West Africa Law Reports and unauthenticated Sierra Leone Judgments.
The clarion call was led by the late Justice Ken Omotayo During, Justice of Appeal who frequently advocated for such local reports and I quote a favorite phrase in his judgments: “The law must start and end in Sierra Leone”. It is my fervent hope that subsequent volumes will continue until a Council of Law Reporting is established by the Government of Sierra Leone. Whilst thanking the Sierra Leone Bar Association for the honour of inviting me to write this foreword, I would be remiss in not commending them for this laudatory effort and in particular Messrs Abdul Tejan-Cole and Eku Roberts, now the Hon. Justice Eku Roberts, past Presidents of the Association, the current chair Mr Yada Williams and Ms Glenna Thompson, the Secretary General and Ms Susan Sisay in bringing this project to a successful conclusion. Writing headnotes are difficult distillations of legal principles that constitute the ratio decidendi and obiter dicta, the necessary tools of any legal practitioner.
Arnold Bishop-Gooding M.A. LLM (Cantab), Legal Practitioner, General Secretary of the Sierra Leone Bar Association (1972-74) and President (1991-92).
These cases will be re-published and printed as the Sierra Leone Law Reports [SLLR], as part of this project to publish a complete set of Sierra Leone case law. We are targeting publication of this and the current volume in progress before the end of 2020. Please contact ruleoflawpublishing@gmail.com for further information or to reserve your copies of the Sierra Leone Law Reports.