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VOL. 9, ISSUE 3 (2023)
Constitutional and legal treatment of matrimonial property in Ghana: Going backwards to go forward
Authors
Kwame Gyan
Abstract
The failure of the Parliament of Ghana to comply with the
constitutional directive to enact legislation regulating the property rights of
spouses has, as can be expected, presaged numerous problems in the distribution
of properties acquired during the subsistence of a marriage upon its
dissolution. Consequently, the judiciary has resorted, in what may be
considered a clear case of judicial legislation, to evolving various parameters
for regulating the property rights of spouses, especially upon divorce. The Land
Act, 2020 (Act 1036) made an attempt to provide for the regulation of the
property rights of spouses with particular reference to land or interests in
land, albeit in lamentably scanty provisions. This paper analyses the
principles discernible from the judicial decisions and the brief rules provided
by the Land Act for regulating the property rights of spouses to determine
whether they meet the requirement of the Constitution. In the final analysis,
the paper demonstrates that the Land Act and the judicially engineered
principles do not meet muster. Consequently, there is the need for Parliament
to act swiftly to enact legislation that would sufficiently and efficiently
regulate the property rights of spouses.
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Pages:38-45
How to cite this article:
Kwame Gyan "Constitutional and legal treatment of matrimonial property in Ghana: Going backwards to go forward". International Journal of Law, Vol 9, Issue 3, 2023, Pages 38-45
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