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.
The WACA was first established in 1867 as the appellate court for British possessions in western Africa. It was abolished in 1874, but was revived in 1928. Jurisdiction over Nigeria was ended in 1954. The court became defunct with the independence of the states which it served. The court was based in Sierra Leone.
Decisions of the court could be appealed with leave to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Sir James Henley Coussey was appointed President of the court in 1955. [1] [2]
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It shares its southeastern border with Liberia, and the northern half of the nation is surrounded by Guinea. Covering a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi), Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with diverse environments ranging from savanna to rainforests. The country has a population of 7,092,113 as of the 2015 census. Freetown is the capital and largest city. The country is divided into five administrative regions, which are subdivided into 16 districts.
Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor is a Liberian former politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 22nd president of Liberia from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003 as a result of the Second Liberian Civil War and growing international pressure.
Christopher Elnathan Okoro Cole, CMG OBE was a Sierra Leonean politician. He served as Governor-general and President of Sierra Leone for 1 day in 1971. Cole was appointed officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1965 for "Public services as minister without portfolio" and inducted as a companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1973.
The West African Frontier Force (WAFF) was a multi-battalion field force, formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia. In 1928, it received royal recognition, becoming the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF).
The Special Court for Sierra Leone, or the "Special Court" (SCSL), also called the Sierra Leone Tribunal, was a judicial body set up by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations to "prosecute persons who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law" committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996 and during the Sierra Leone Civil War. The court's working language was English. The court listed offices in Freetown, The Hague, and New York City.
Fourah Bay College is a public university in the neighbourhood of Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Founded on 18 February 1827, it is the first western-style university built in Sub-Saharan Africa and, furthermore, the first university-level institution in Africa. It is a constituent college of the University of Sierra Leone (USL) and was formerly affiliated with Durham University (1876–1967).
The Temne, also called Atemne, Témené, Temné, Téminè, Temeni, Thaimne, Themne, Thimni, Timené, Timné, Timmani, or Timni, are a West African ethnic group, They are predominantly found in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Some Temne are also found in Guinea. The Temne constitute the largest ethnic group in Sierra Leone, at 35.5% of the total population, which is slightly bigger than the Mende people at 31.2%. They speak Temne, a Mel branch of the Niger–Congo languages.
George Gelaga King was a judge in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and recently a justice of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Stella Jane Thomas was a Yoruba Nigerian lawyer of Sierra Leone Creole descent. She received a law degree from Oxford University and in 1943 became the first woman magistrate in Nigeria.
The Sierra Leone Creole people are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone between 1787 and about 1885. The colony was established by the British, supported by abolitionists, under the Sierra Leone Company as a place for freedmen. The settlers called their new settlement Freetown. Today, the Sierra Leone Creoles are 1.2 percent of the population of Sierra Leone.
James Pinson Labulo Davies was a Nigerian businessman, merchant-sailor, naval officer, farmer, pioneer industrialist, statesman, and philanthropist who married Sara Forbes Bonetta in colonial Lagos.
Sir Kitoye Ajasa was a Nigerian lawyer and legislator during the colonial period. He was conservative, and worked closely with the colonial authorities. He thought that progress would only be possible if Africans adopted European ideas and institutions. Ajasa was one of the leaders of the People's Union, and was the founder of the conservative newspaper the Nigerian Pioneer. He was the first Nigerian to be knighted.
Bonny Ibhawoh is the Senator William McMaster Chair in Global Human Rights, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Expert-Rapporteur, United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, UN-OHCHR and Founding Director, Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice
The Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone was the British colonial administration in Sierra Leone from 1808 to 1961, part of the British Empire from the abolitionism era until the decolonisation era. The Crown colony, which included the area surrounding Freetown, was established in 1808. The protectorate was established in 1896 and included the interior of what is today known as Sierra Leone.
The Supreme Court of the Gambia is a superior court of record and the highest court in The Gambia. Established in 1851, it has appellate and original jurisdiction over any law exceeding the powers conferred by the Constitution or any law upon the National Assembly or any other person or authority.
The East African Court of Appeal (EACA) was a court which served as the appellate court for the British colonies in eastern Africa and west Asia.
Sir George Graham Paul, also known as Graham Paul or G. G. Paul, was a British jurist who served in the colonial administration in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Tanganyika.
Amodu Tijani v Secretary, Southern Nigeria [1921] 2 AC 399, [1921] UKPC 80, also known as the Apapa land case, was a decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council concerning land title.
Sierra Leonean nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Sierra Leone, as amended; the Citizenship Act, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Sierra Leone. The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Nationality describes the relationship of an individual to the state under international law, whereas citizenship is the domestic relationship of an individual within the nation. In Britain and thus the Commonwealth of Nations, though the terms are often used synonymously outside of law, they are governed by different statutes and regulated by different authorities. Sierra Leonean nationality is based on descent from a person who is Negro-African, regardless of whether they were born in Sierra Leone, jus soli, or abroad to a Sierra Leonean, jus sanguinis. The Negro clause was inserted based upon the founding of the colony as a refuge for former slaves to prevent economically powerful communities from obtaining political power. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalisation.