who was the first ghanaian to become a lawyer
Ghana Bar Association The British parliament established the Supreme Court of Judicature for the Gold Coast Colony in 1876, with a Chief Justice and no more than four Puisne Justices.[3] John Mensah Sarbah was the first native of Ghana to be called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1887. The legal system was based on that of England, in which solicitors provide legal advice and prepare legal documents while barristers act as advocates in court. However, this division was not observed in practice in Ghana, and in 1960 an act abolished the distinction.[4] Until the Ghana School of Law was established in 1958, all lawyers were trained abroad, almost always at the Inns of Court in England. As of 2011 there are about 2,500 practicing lawyers, although not all have registered as members of the Bar Association.[5]
Islam in Ghana The arrival and spread of Islam in Ghana followed several and different pathways; the Mandens came through the North and North-Western corridors of Ghana while the Borno and Hausa peoples came through the North-East. Islam is thought to have successfully penetrated southern Ghana following the "collapse of the Bono and the Begho states, and its increase was encouraged by the fact that the slave trade became more lucrative and competitive".[5] Furthermore, the British colonial government in the nineteenth century enlisted people from various northern predominantly Muslim communities into the colonial army. Finally, the mass exodus of immigrants into forest areas of Ghana following the 1892 Sack of Salaga by joint forces of Dagomba, Namumba and Gonja Kingdoms significantly depleted Muslim populations in the North while boosting that of the South.[6][7]