V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe dies at age 95

• Posted on September 7, 2018
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

A former Supreme Court Judge of Ghana, Justice V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe is reported dead at age 95.

He is said to have died Friday morning at a hospital in Accra after a short illness, a close source has confirmed.

Justice Crabbe was born on October 29, 1923 at Ussher town in Accra and had his early education at the Government Junior and Senior Boys Schools in Accra.

He attended Accra Academy for his Cambridge Junior and Senior School certificates and went to London to study Economics at the City of London College Moorgate from 1950 to 1952.

The late retired Supreme Court judge, Vincent Cyril Richard Arthur Charles (V.C.R.A.C) Crabbe, before his death Friday morning was a Professor of Law at Mountcrest University College in Accra.

He was also a former Professor of Law at the University of West Indies.

Biography

In August 1952, he was admitted to the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple to read law.

He completed the normal three-year course in two years and was called to the Bar on the 8th February, 1955 having being granted a dispensation.

The same year he was enrolled as a member of the Gold Coast Bar, in order to maintain his Seniority at the Bar.

He progressed from Assistant Crown Counsel to Parliamentary Counsel, the first African to be appointed as such and ended up as a Senior Instructor at the International Law Development Centre in Rome, Italy.

In between, he has held the post of First Parliamentary Counsel and Constitutional Advisor to the Uganda Government, Director of the Commonwealth Secretariat Scheme for Legislative draftsmen for the West African Region, Southern Africa Region, the Caribbean Region and a Professor of Legislative drafting at the Cave Hill Campus, Barbados, University of West Indies.

Crabbe was Special Commissioner to the 1968 Constitutional Commission; Legislative Draftsmen to the 1969 Constituent Assembly which drafted the 1969 Constitution of Ghana.

He was the Chairman of the 1979 Constituent Assembly and drafted the 1979 Constitution of Ghana.

He worked with the Constitutional Review Commission of Kenya and was Leader of the group of Draftspersons who drafted the Kenya Constitution.

He did work the Zambian Constitutional Commission for the drafting of the Zambian Constitution as well with the Fiajoe Review Commission for the review of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

With Justice P.N. Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India and Justice Eso of the Supreme Court of Nigeria to advise on the setting up of the Constitutional Court in South Africa.

More to follow…