Supreme Court of the Gambia
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The Supreme Court of the Gambia is a
superior Superior may refer to: *Superior (hierarchy), something which is higher in a hierarchical structure of any kind Places *Superior (proposed U.S. state), an unsuccessful proposal for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to form a separate state *Lake ...
court of record A court of record is a trial court or appellate court in which a record of the proceedings is captured and preserved, for the possibility of appeal. A court clerk or a court reporter takes down a record of oral proceedings. That written recor ...
and the highest court in
The Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
. Established in 1851, it has
appellate In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
and
original jurisdiction In common law legal systems original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a higher court has the power to review a lower court's decision. India In India, the Sup ...
over any law exceeding the powers conferred by the Constitution or any law upon the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
or any other person or authority.


History

Established first in 1851, the Supreme Court was headed firstly by a Chief Justice and then later by a Judge. A Chief Justice was again appointed in 1957. It was initially the only court in The Gambia to have
trial by jury A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are used in a significant ...
, with the High Court having trial by judge alone. Appeals against Supreme Court decisions could be made to the
West African Court of Appeal The West African Court of Appeal (WACA) was a court which served as the appellate court for the British colonies of Gold Coast, Nigeria, Gambia, and Sierra Leone. History The WACA was first established in 1867 as the appellate court for British pos ...
, and then to the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...
. Following independence in 1965, this arrangement persisted, with the West African Court of Appeal being replaced by the Court of Appeal of The Gambia. The 1997 constitution made the Supreme Court the highest court in The Gambia, composed of a Chief Justice and no more than five other Justices. Appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council were abolished in 1998. Under Jammeh, Justices risked being dismissed after presiding over sensitive cases in the court. In 2003,
Hassan Bubacar Jallow Hassan Bubacar Jallow (born 14 August 1951) is a Gambian judge who has served as Chief Justice of the Gambia since February 2017. He was the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) from 2003 to 2016, and Prosecutor of ...
was dismissed after presiding over several high-profile cases in which provisions of National Assembly acts were invalidated for contravening the Constitution and the African Charter. Similarly, Raymond Sock and Gibou Janneh were dismissed in 2015 after moves to commute death sentences for accused conspirators to life sentences in prison. Following the election of President Adama Barrow, the court held its first sitting in over two years, from 15 May 2017 to 9 June. During the sitting, they listened to 41 cases, a "historic pacesetting record".


Jurisdiction

Section 126 sets out the jurisdiction of the court: the Supreme Court is the final court of appeal for The Gambia and also has appellate and other jurisdiction as defined by the Constitution. It does not have original jurisdiction in any criminal matter. The court may overrule a previous decision "when it appears right to do so", and all other courts are bound to follow the decisions of the Supreme Court on a matter of law. Section 67(2)(b) states that when the
Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...
acts on a notification of misconduct by the
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
, he must appoint a tribunal led by the Chief Justice and consisting of other members who must have held high judicial office.


Original jurisdiction

The
original jurisdiction In common law legal systems original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a higher court has the power to review a lower court's decision. India In India, the Sup ...
of the court is set out in Section 127 of the Constitution. It lies with the interpretation or enforcement of any provisions of the Constitution, besides Sections 18 to 33 and Section 36(5); on any question of whether law was made in excess of the powers conferred by the Constitution or in other statutes; on any question of whether a person was validly elected to the presidency (Section 49) or the National Assembly; or on any question of whether the contents of an official document should be produced in court proceedings if national security issues are at stake.


Appellate jurisdiction

The Supreme Court has
appellate jurisdiction A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
in cases from a variety of sources, and this is set out in Section 128 of the Constitution. These include appeals from the Court of Appeal in any civil or criminal case or matter from a judgement in the High Court that was in the exercise of its original jurisdiction; an appeal from the Court of Appeal that dismissed an appeal from a death sentence imposed by another court; or in any such case as prescribed by an act of the National Assembly. An appeal may also reach the Supreme Court from the Court of Appeal if that court is satisfied that the case involves a substantial question of law or it is in the public interest that the matter be heard by the Supreme Court.


Composition


Number

According to Section 125(1) of the Constitution, the Supreme Court must consist of the Chief Justice and not less than four other Justices of the Supreme Court. Overall, the Supreme Court must be constituted by an uneven number of not less than five judges.


Qualification and appointment

Under Section 139, a person is qualified to be appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court if they have held office as a Judge of the Court of Appeal or a judge of a court with similar jurisdiction in a
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
country, for not less than five years. Alternatively, if they have practiced as a lawyer before a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in a common law country for not less than 12 years. A person may be appointed as Chief Justice if they are qualified to be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court or have been a judge of a
superior court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...
of a common law country for not less than 10 years. Section 138 states that the Chief Justice is appointed by the President after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). Similarly, Justices are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the JSC. The appointments are validated by warrants signed by the President and sealed with the Public Seal. Before assuming office, Justices must take prescribed oaths. Expatriate judges from other Commonwealth countries, especially from Nigeria and Sierra Leone, are usually appointed, but a Gambianisation process has been underway since Adama Barrow replaced Yahya Jammeh as
President of the Gambia The president of the Republic of The Gambia is the head of state and head of government of the Gambia. The president leads the executive branch of the government of the Gambia and is the commander-in-chief of the Gambia Armed Forces. The post w ...
in January 2017.


Current members


References

{{Africa topic, Supreme Court of, title=Supreme Courts of Africa, countries_only=yes
Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
Law of the Gambia 1851 establishments in Africa Courts and tribunals established in 1851