Robert John Hayfron-Benjamin was a

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

lawyer and judge. He was the Chief Justice of Botswana and an Appeal Court judge in Ghana. He was also the chairman of the Ghana Law Reform Commission and the deputy speaker of the Consultative Assembly that was established to help draft and interpret the 1992 constitution. He attended Adisadel College.

Biography

Hayfron-Benjamin was born in April 1929 in Ghana (then

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

). He studied at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

for his

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

degree and proceeded to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to study law. He was called to the bar in 1955. Hayfron-Benjamin begun as a private legal practitioner in Ghana from 1955 to 1963 when he was appointed Principal State Attorney. On 24 June 1964, he was called to the bench of the

High Court of Ghana The Judiciary of Ghana comprises the Superior Courts of Judicature, established under the 1992 Constitution, and the Inferior Courts, established by Parliament. The hierarchy of courts derives largely from British juridical forms. The courts hav ...

and in 1966, he doubled as a Solicitor General. He served as a High Court judge from 1964 until 1976 when he was elevated to Appeal Court bench. In 1977, Hayfron-Benjamin was appointed Chief Justice of Botswana. He served in that capacity until 1981. After his judicial service in Botswana, he returned to Ghana and resumed in his previous post as Justice of the Court of Appeal. He served in this capacity until his retirement from judicial service in 1997. In 1991, he was elected deputy speaker of the Consultative Assembly, an assembly that was established to help draft and interpret the 1992 constitution. He died in 2000, aged 71.

Awards

* Member of the

Order of the Volta The Order of the Volta is an order of merit from the Republic of Ghana. It was instituted in 1960 and is awarded to people for their outstanding service to the country.

. (1977)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayfron-Benjamin, Robert John 1929 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Ghanaian judges Botswana judges Alumni of the University of London

Biography

Awards

See also

References