Justice Yuoh Admonishes Lawyers
By: G Bennie Bravo Johnson I
Liberian twenty-six president Joseph Nyumah Boakai during his first State of Nation address on January 29, 2024, characterized the Liberian Judiciary as inefficient, corruptible, and lacking public trust.
“Our justice system which is meant to protect the innocent and punish the guilty has been marred by inefficiency, corruption, and lack of public trust. I am counting on this honorable Body to pass legislation and support financial appropriations that will help us win the fight against corruption..”
However, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh has taken this statement as a challenge to the justice system and called on all judicial actors to demonstrate efficiency and credibility in dispensing justice without fear or favor.
But further warned lawyers that “The time for warming is over and it’s now time to act.”
“I call upon all of us as judicial actors to take judicial notice of an aspect of the Annual Message by His Excellency President Joseph Nyumah Boakai, Sr.
wherein he stated thus: “Our justice system which is meant to protect the innocent and punish the guilty has been marred by inefficiency, corruption, and lack of public trust. I am counting on this honorable Body to pass legislation and support financial appropriations that will help us win the fight against corruption..”
I say that we as the Judiciary Branch of the Government, particularly the courts, and keepers of the law, take this statement as a challenge and decisively demonstrate that we are efficient, non-corruptible, and trustworthy
in dispensing justice without fear or favor.”
On Thursday, February 1, 2024, addressing the tenth annual convention of the National Association of Trial Judges of Liberia which is held under the theme: “The Judiciary and Democracy in Liberia: Safeguarding Democratic Values in the Legal System, Especially During and After Elections”, Justice Sie-A-Nyene G Yuoh attributed the lack of public trust in the judiciary to the practicing style of some lawyers by expressing her disappointment in the forms and manner in which some lawyers practice their lawyering.
Asserting that their practice is intended to frustrate and delay the enforcement of courts’ judgment, and hinder the administration of justice.
Justice Yuoh her unwavering stance on the strict administration of justice in the interest of peace, harmony, stability and
economic viability of Liberia.
Re-echoing that the time for warming is over and it’s now time to act.
Therefore, the Supreme Court has constituted a review committee on the Revised Rules of Courts, the Code of Moral and Professional Ethics of Lawyers, and the Judicial Cannons, as well as our procedural codes, with the end purpose of identifying challenges and shortcomings.
“I find no stronger words for my conviction in ensuring the administration of justice than the words which I pronounced during the November 2022 convention of the Liberia National Bar Association…
that the time for warming is over and it’s now time to act.
To end this, in consultation with my esteemed colleague, I am pleased to announce that the Supreme Court has constituted a review committee on the Revised Rules of Courts, the Code of Moral and Professional Ethics of Lawyers, and the Judicial Cannons, as well as our procedural codes, with the end purpose of identifying challenges and shortcomings.
She added that the review committee on the Revised Rules of Courts, the Code of Moral and Professional Ethics will look at advance recommendations with the view of bringing instruments to terms with current realities to include, but not limited to dealing with the interference with judgments of the courts, curbing the wave of unmeritorious suits filed by lawyers and party litigants.
An action she described as the misuse of the remedial processes which often
times are responsible for the protracted delay in the adjudication of cases or
frustrating the execution of judgments in our courts.
The Liberian chief justice warned that the Supreme Court will not hesitate to institute measures to curb, or eradicate, all forms of dilatory tactics of lawyers’ practice intended to frustrate and delay the enforcement of courts’ judgment.
“More disappointingly, lawyers who ought to be officers of the law also, under a pretext of providing zealous rather than legal representation, take liberty in filing frivolous and unmeritorious petitions, all for the sole purpose of frustrating and delaying the enforcement of courts’ judgment, thus hindering the administration of justice.
The Supreme Court will not hesitate to institute measures to curb, if not eradicate, all forms of dilatory tactics of lawyers in all such instances.”
The Liberian chief justice stated that the Supreme Court has observed that it has defiantly become the new normal for a segment of the public enticed by misguided courage, obstructing the enforcement of courts’ judgment either because the judgment is adverse to their interests or based on their claim that they were not party to the cause out of which the judgment grew.
Insinuating that to regain the public trust and confidence, Chief Justice Youh further warned lawyers that the Court expects full adherence to the principle of law which states: “every court entering a decree retains jurisdiction until its judgment is fully satisfied, and that parties appearing before the courts are required to proceed in strict compliance with the order of the courts.
In conclusion, the chief justice further called on all courts of records deciding ejectment cases to assert their very best in utilizing the technical expertise of the Liberia Land Authority or other licensed land surveyors in consonance with the applicable laws, to first properly identify the property in dispute through an investigative survey before proceeding with a trial.
Asserting that it will help to create more awareness of the dispute, get all interested parties involved, and also aid in the enforcement process.
