Sam Sumana v Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and Victor Bockarie Foh (SC 4/2015, Supreme Court of Sierra Leone, 9 September 2015). See ReliefWeb/ Peace Insight, "Sierra Leone’s constitutional crisis: the final verdict" (2015).
Peace Insight, "President Koroma’s sacking of former Vice President was illegal, says ECOWAS Regional Court" (2017). The ECOWAS judgment was not implemented domestically; verify its reference (ECW/CCJ series) before formal citation.
Rely on verified authorities for the reviewability of executive action unless the report is produced.
Richard Fallon, "The Core of an Uneasy Case for Judicial Review" (2008) 121 Harv L Rev 1693.
Konrad Zweigert and Hein Kötz, An Introduction to Comparative Law (3rd edn, OUP 1998); Alan Watson, Legal Transplants (2nd edn, University of Georgia Press 1993).
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
Local Courts Act 2011 (Act No 10 of 2011) (Sierra Leone) (customary law adjudication).
Alexkor Ltd v Richtersveld Community 2004 (5) SA 460 (CC); ZACC 18.
Customary Land Rights Act 2022 (Sierra Leone).
Attorney-General of Abia State v Attorney-General of the Federation (2006) 16 NWLR (Pt 1005) 265 (SC Nigeria); Attorney-General of Lagos State v Attorney-General of the Federation (2004) 18 NWLR (Pt 904) 1 (SC Nigeria). Nigerian report pinpoints should be checked against the law reports before formal citation.
Attorney-General of the Federation v Attorney-General of Abia State & 35 Ors (SC/ CV/343/2024, judgment of 11 July 2024) (local government financial autonomy).
Attorney-General of the Federation v Attorney-General of Lagos State (2013) 16 NWLR (Pt 1380) 249 (SC Nigeria).
Local Government Act 2004 (Sierra Leone); Local Government Act 2022 (Sierra Leone). The lecture’s reference to sections 42 and 43 concerns the allocation of functions between councils and central ministries; verify pinpoints in the 2022 Act as gazetted.
Council of Governors & 6 Others v Senate eKLR (High Court of Kenya); see also Council of Governors v Attorney-General (Reference 3 of 2019) eKLR (SC Kenya). Verify the precise suit relied on by the lecturer.
R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union UKSC 5.
Human Rights Act 1998 (UK), ss 3-4. The lecture’s dates of 1989 and 1999 for this Act are corrected: it was enacted in 1998 and commenced principally on 2 October 2000.
A and Others v Secretary of State for the Home Department UKHL 56.
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, s 33; Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000 (South Africa).
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, ch 9; Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004 (Nigeria).
Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991, s 29; Constitution of Kenya 2010, art 58.
Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation). The lecture’s shorthand "regulation 26" refers to the 2016 instrument.
Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023; Cybersecurity and Crime Act 2021 (Sierra Leone); Ministry of Information and Civic Education (Sierra Leone), final national validation of the Data Protection and Right to Access Information Bill 2025. Verify current enactment status before citing.
National Security and Central Intelligence Act 2002 (Sierra Leone).
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
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79.
80.
81.
NM and Others v Smith and Others 2007 (5) SA 250 (CC); ZACC 6 (4 April 2007).
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, s 39(1).
SERAP v Federal Republic of Nigeria and Universal Basic Education Commission ECW/CCJ/JUD/07/10 (30 November 2010).
Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai, Electoral Politics, Laws and Ethnicity in Africa (2023).
Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991, ss 40-53. Verify pinpoints for tenure and removal (ss 46, 50-51) against the consolidated text.
Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991, ss 73, 76-77, 106; s 40(4) (treaties). The lecture materials’ reference to "section 73" for disqualification is corrected: disqualifications are s 76 and vacation of seats s 77.
Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991, ch VII on finance (ss 110-119); s 119 (Auditor-General). Verify pinpoints against the consolidated text; the Public Financial Management Act 2016 (Sierra Leone) supplies the statutory detail.
Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone Act 2004 (Act No 9 of 2004); Anti-Corruption Act 2008, as amended 2019.
Right to Access Information Act 2013 (Act No 2 of 2013) (Sierra Leone); Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai, Freedom of Information Law and Good Governance: The Curse of Corruption in Sierra Leone (2021).
Anti-Corruption Act 2008 (Act No 12 of 2008), amended 2019 (Sierra Leone).
Economic Freedom Fighters v Speaker of the National Assembly 2016 (3) SA 580 (CC) (South Africa).
UN Doc E/CN.4/2006/58 (Decaux Principles), principles 5 and 8; Sierra Leone Military Forces Act 1961 (Act No 34 of 1961). On the 2024 Freetown court martial and the objection concerning dismissed soldiers, verify the proceedings from the record.
Sierra Leone Citizenship Act 1973 (Act No 4 of 1973), as amended in 2006 and
2017. Verify the current criteria before citing; the racial-descent criterion has been the subject of sustained reform advocacy.
Refugees Protection Act 2007 (Sierra Leone); Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951); OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (1969).
SERAP v Federal Republic of Nigeria (No 2) ECW/CCJ/JUD/18/12 (14 December
2012) (Niger Delta environment).
Environment Protection Agency Act 2008, re-enacted 2022 (Sierra Leone); verify the current EPA statute.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (EU Artificial Intelligence Act) (risk-based framework).
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
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91.
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93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
Lomé Peace Agreement (1999); Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (2002); TRC, Witness to Truth (2004).
Faculty of Law, Oxford, OSCOLA: The Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (4th edn, Hart 2012).
99.
100.
Words and Latin in this note
- Wednesbury unreasonableness
- A ground of review: a decision so unreasonable that no reasonable authority could ever have come to it. Open the note.
- Legitimate expectation
- An expectation, created by a clear promise or settled practice of a public body, that the law may protect by requiring a hearing or, in rare cases, holding the body to its promise. Open the note.
- Delegated legislation
- Rules, regulations or orders made by a minister or other body under power given by an Act. Rules outside the Act are void. Open the note.
- Separation of powers
- The division of state power among the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary, so that no one organ holds all of it. The 1991 Constitution combines it with checks and balances. Open the note.
- Maladministration
- Bad administration, such as delay, neglect, bias or rudeness, investigated by the Ombudsman. It is wider than unlawfulness. Open the note.
- Legal positivism
- The claim that law is a social fact identified by the sources the system itself recognises. Austin defined it as a sovereign's command backed by a sanction. Bentham attacked natural rights as nonsense upon stilts. Open the note.
- Judicial review
- The power of the superior courts to examine whether a public body acted lawfully, rationally and fairly. It looks at legality, not merits. Constitutional review of laws is a separate power of the Supreme Court. Open the note.
- Natural justice
- Two rules of fair procedure: no one should be a judge in his own cause, and each side must be heard. Open the note.
- Proportionality
- A structured test: is the aim legitimate, is the measure rationally connected to it, could a less intrusive means be used, and is a fair balance struck? Open the note.
- Habeas corpus
- An order requiring a person who holds someone in custody to bring them before the court, so the court can decide whether the detention is lawful. Open the note.
- Ultra vires
- Beyond the powers: an act or rule made by a body that the law did not give it the power to make, so it is invalid. Open the note.
- Rule of law
- The principle that government must act under and within the law, that everyone is equal before it, and that power is not used arbitrarily. Dicey gave it three meanings. Open the note.
- Natural law
- The claim that law is valid only if it meets a moral standard knowable by reason. It is a theory of what law ought to be. It is not, by itself, a source in section 170. Open the note.
- Certiorari
- An order of a superior court that brings up the decision of a lower court or public body so it can be checked and, if it was unlawful, set aside. Open the note.
Memory map
Constitutional and Administrative Law for Postgraduates
Key points
- The Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991 is the…
- Jurisdiction and procedure are distinct
- Judicial review controls public power through…
Key terms
- Acquittal
- Bail
- Certiorari
- Conviction
Take-home points
- The Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991 is the supreme law under section 171(15).
- Jurisdiction and procedure are distinct: a procedural irregularity does not by itself oust jurisdiction.
- Judicial review controls public power through legality, reasonableness and procedural fairness.
Related case law
Full judgments on Lanbuk on the same areas of law.
- Macaulay v Macaulay, 1967-68 ALR S.L. 14Sierra Leone
- S v Ikubolaje Nicol (MISC 3/2024) [2025] SLSC 1 (12 February 2025)Sierra Leone
- JA.AB (SL) LTD v PSG Shipping & Logistics (CIV APP 60/25) [2026] SLCA 11 (27 October 2026)Sierra Leone
- Omrie Golley And Others v S (SC MISC APP 1 of 2006) [2006] SLSC 3 (6 May 2006)Sierra Leone
- Franics Kai Kai v S (COI.APP 64/2020) [2023] SLCA 3 (18 September 2023)Sierra Leone
- R v William S. Young, Acting Master and Registrar, Supreme Court; Ex Parte Berthan Macaulay (MISC APP 3 of 1961) [1961] SLSC 6 (11 April 1961)Sierra Leone
- Estate, Khalilu Jabbie v Skye Bank (SL) Ltd & Anor (MISC APP 45 of 2014) [2016] SLCA 1152 (9 December 2016)Sierra Leone
- SKY VRS PARLIAMENT OF GHANA (J1/09/2024) [2024] GHASC 66 (18 December 2024)
See also
- The Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991 · 1991
- Entick v Carrington · Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · (1765) 19 St Tr 1029; 95 ER 807
- Marbury v Madison · Lanbuk on Constitutional Law · 5 US (1 Cranch) 137 (1803)
Lecture notes on this subject
- Constitutional Law: First Semester NotesConstitutional law
- Constitutional Law: Second Semester NotesConstitutional law
- Constitutional and Administrative Law: LLM Master Study NoteConstitutional and administrative law
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