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Ghana’s First Female Lawyer and Judge,
Annie Ruth Jiagge
Annie
Ruth Jiagge was a Ghanaian lawyer, judge and women’s right activist. She was
the first woman in Ghana and the Commonwealth of Nations to become a judge.
Justice
Annie Ruth Jiagge was born on the 7th of October, 1918 in Lomé, Togo to
Henrietta Baëta, a schoolteacher, and Robert Domingo Baëta, a Presbyterian
minister.
Annie
graduated from Achimota College in 1937 with a teacher's certificate. She
served as the Headmistress and Schoolteacher at the Evangelical Presbyterian
Girls School from 1940 to 1946.
She
gained admission to the London School of Economics and Political Science in
1946. Her male scholars from
the Gold Coast advised her to stop her
academic pursuits, deeming them too challenging for a woman. One even proposed
securing her a placement at the Paris Academy to focus on dress design.
She
informed them that in the event of failing her initial examination, she would
make her way back to the Gold Coast.
However,
she successfully passed the exam, thus freeing herself from the unwanted
attention of the men. In 1949, she obtained her LLB degree and was subsequently
admitted to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in the succeeding year.
Baeta
founded a private practice upon her return to the Gold Coast in 1950. She
relinquished her position at the Bar and assumed the role of a magistrate for
the Bench in June 1953.
She rose through the ranks
to attain the position of a judge in the Court of Appeal in 1969, which was
considered the highest court
in Ghana at that time. In 1966, subsequent to the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah,
she was appointed to preside over the Commission tasked with scrutinizing the
assets of esteemed public officials and prominent political figures.
Annie
made history as the inaugural female judge appointed to the Court of Appeal.
Her illustrious career culminated in her presidency of the Court of Appeal from
1980 until her retirement in 1983.
She
also served on the Committee of Experts who drafted Ghana’s 3rd and
4th Republican Constitutions.
From
1993 until her death, Annie Jiagge served on Ghana’s Council of State. She died
on June 12, 1996 in Accra.
By Governor