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Is ignorance of the law absolutely a no excuse under Ghana Law?

The Lartin Term "IGNORANTIA JURIS NON EXCUSAT" means ignorance of the law is no excuse.

This term simply means that if you do not know that something is unlawful and you do such an unlawful act, it's consequence will still be visited on you. For example, you cannot say that you did not know that touching someone without the person's consent is an assault. You will not be excused for not knowing it's a crime.

Under Section 29 (2) of the Criminal Offence Act of Ghana, this Lartin term has been codified and so it's no longer just a common law maxim but a law passed by parliament of Ghana. The said section says as follow: "A person shall not, except as in this Code otherwise expressly provided, be exempt from liability to punishment for any act on the ground of ignorance that the act is prohibited by law."

In simple terms, you are expected to know any law in Ghana whether you know in fact or not. Public Policy is that, it will be impracticable to excuse persons who claim they did not know of any law in place. So long as the law has been passed by the peoples representatives (Parliament) and signed by the people’s choice (President), everyone is deemed to have notice of that law.

There is however an exception to this law.

Section 29 (1) of the Criminal offences Act says that ignorance of fact is an excuse. This is a direct quote of the said section. "A person shall not be punished for any act which, by reason of ignorance or mistake of fact in good faith, he believes to be lawful."

This excuse is actually a solid defence in Criminal law. When a person has been charged with a crime in court and that person is able to prove that he or she was ignorant of a certain fact or mistaken of that fact, that person shall be set free.

This played out very well in the case of Nyameneba & others Vrs the State.

In that case, the appellants had been convicted of possession and use of Indian hemp which is a prohibited narcotic substance under Ghana Law.

The facts of the case is that, Nyamenaba was a leader of a religious group which believed that God had revealed the herbs of life to them. They openly cultivated the herb, smoked same, used for soups, concoctions and openly consumed the herbs. They encouraged all inhabitants of Princess Town where they lived to join their church and also use some of the herbs so that they will be right with God. They used it to heal several sick people with some success.

Even when the police came to arrest them, they boldly gave the police some of the herbs to try, telling the police that this is not Indian hemp but the herbs of life.

They successfully appealed their conviction and the Supreme Court held that the defence of ignorance of fact was available to these individuals since the circumstances of the case showed clearly that they were ignorant of a fact. That fact being that the herbs were Indian hemp.

So, whilst ignorance of Law is not an excuse, ignorance of fact is an excuse and a complete defence.

Watch out for the next explanation on simple everyday legal terms.


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