SLOATENG & COMPANY LTD V. NATIONAL SPORTS AUTHORITY

JUDGMENT

DR. ERNEST OWUSU-DAPAA JA:

INTRODUCTION

[1]. My Lords, the appeal before us presents a fundamental legal conundrum—one that sits at the uneasy intersection between textual fidelity to statutory form and the higher duty of the courts to do substantial justice. Too often, courts are confronted with situations where the formal appearance of legality—particularly a registered land title—conceals an underlying injustice. In such cases, the mechanical invocation of Statutory Provisions, such as those under the Land Title Registration Law, 1986 (PNDCL 152), has been used as a shield for inequity, enabling those with later but better-documentary claims to override the rights of those with longstanding possession and proven ownership. Yet our judicial oath does not bind us to unthinking literalism, but to the pursuit of justice through the conscientious application of law to fact. The courts must therefore guard against blind fidelity to text, especially where the text is manipulated to …