On 1976, Ghana celebrated the centenary of the establishment of its Supreme Court. But this was more than a centenary of a supreme court. It was in fact the celebration of a hundred years of a national legal system. During the past century, Ghana has operated a pluralistic legal system encompassing English and other Western juristic ideas and procedures on the one hand, and Ghana's own indigenous laws on the other. The burden of this paper is to undertake an appraisal of the efficacy of this legal heritage and to consider the challenge which this legacy poses. The emphasis is not so much on the historical or analytical description of the nation's legal heritage as on a functional review of the totality of Ghana's legal experience in the light of the prevailing social and economic conditions. More precisely, to what extent have the Ghanaian courts and legislative bodies succeeded in moulding both the received law and the indigenous customary law to respond to the pressing social and economic needs of the country? Is there in fact a peculiarly Ghanaian legal tradition?

The first Supreme Court was established in 1853, but its jurisdiction was confined to the coastal settlements and it could not pretend to be a national institution. The modern Ghanaian legal system was inaugurated by the Supreme Court Ordinance, 1876, which not only established a national judicial system but also prescribed the law and procedure to be applied in this court system.