1 THE LAW AND PRACTICE OF JUDICIAL REVIEW BY JUSTICE ...

judges to protect individuals and minorities from the power of the majority.
The fundamental human rights and freedoms enshrined in Chapter 5 of the
Constitution are intended to facilitate the fulfilment by judges of this
expectation. The fact that judges are unelected in democracies such as ours
strengthens their capacity to protect individuals and minorities because their
tenure is not dependent on the short-term wishes of the majority of the
electorate. Marjoritarian institutions such as Parliament and the Executive are
less well-suited to the protection of the interests of individuals and minorities
because of the pressure applied on them by the will of the majority which they
represent.”
These remarks are as true for the Gambia as they are for Ghana. With them, I rest my
case.
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151.
44
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See Hilaire Barnett, Constitutional and Administrative Law (Cavendish Publishing, London,
5 th Ed., 2004) p. 709.
5 US (1 Cranch) 137 (1803)
See De Smith, Woolf & Jowell’s Principles of Judicial Review (Sweet & Maxwell, 1999)
[1948] 1 K.B. 223 at 229-230
See De Smith, Woolf & Jowell’s op cit. 561.
See Rule 46(1) of the Rules of the Supreme Court, 1999.
Unreported judgment of the Supreme Court (Civil Appeal No. 4/2006), delivered on 20 th
November, 2009.
[2005-2006] SCGLR 42 at 47-48.
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