ECOBANK GHANA LIMITED V. YURI-M PLASTICS AND ANOTHER

JUDGMENT

DR. OSEI-HWERE, JA

This appeal is a fallout of the ruling of the High Court (Commercial Division), Accra delivered on the 13th December, 2022. The ruling set aside a garnishee order nisi granted in favour of the Plaintiff/Judgment Creditor/Applicant/Respondent/Appellant (hereinafter referred to as “Appellant”) on the 18th January, 2022.

The appeal focuses on the exercise of the court’s discretionary power, particularly in garnishee proceedings. Exercise of discretion has been an effective tool deployed by the court in the administration of justice. Societal expectation is that this power must be exercised fairly to promote effective justice, as observed by US Chief Justice John Marshall in the 1824 case of Osborn V. Bank of the United States, 22 U. S. 738 (1824) as follows:

“Judicial power, as contradistinguished from the power of the laws, has no existence. Courts are the mere instruments of the law, and can will nothing. When they are said to exercise a discretion, it is a mer…