Former Supreme Court Judge V.C.R.A.C Crabbe has died, 94

Myjoyonline.com is learning of the death a former Supreme Court Judge of Ghana, Justice Vincent Cyril Richard Arthur Charles.

The 94-year-old prominent judge is said to have died Friday morning at a hospital in Accra after a short illness, Graphiconline reported.

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 was the first Ghanaian to chair the Electoral Commission.

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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.

In August 1952, he was admitted to the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple to study law. He completed the normal three-year course in two years and was called to the Bar on February 8, 1955 having been granted a dispensation. He was enrolled as a member of the Gold Coast Bar in the same year. 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.

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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.

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

He also worked 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.