Literature & Ideas
Landmark
John Mensah Sarbah
1864 – 1910
The first Gold Coast African called to the English bar, and the man who wrote Fante law down
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Ghana Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
Called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1887, the first African from the Gold Coast to qualify. He then wrote down Fante customary law so that a colonial court could not pretend it did not exist. Ghanaian lawyers still cite the book.
John Mensah Sarbah was born at Cape Coast on 3 June 1864, entered Lincoln's Inn in 1884 and qualified as a barrister in 1887 — the first African from the Gold Coast to be called to the English bar.
He set out to establish Fante law and the Fante constitution as things a colonial court had to reckon with, publishing Fanti Customary Laws in 1897 and Fanti National Constitution in 1906. The first remains an essential text for lawyers in Ghana. He was among the leading nationalists of his generation and helped shape the political argument that Danquah's and Nkrumah's would grow out of. He died in 1910.
He set out to establish Fante law and the Fante constitution as things a colonial court had to reckon with, publishing Fanti Customary Laws in 1897 and Fanti National Constitution in 1906. The first remains an essential text for lawyers in Ghana. He was among the leading nationalists of his generation and helped shape the political argument that Danquah's and Nkrumah's would grow out of. He died in 1910.
- Wikipedia — John Mensah Sarbah
- Lincoln's Inn — Tales from the archive: John Mensah Sarbah
- Encyclopaedia Africana — Sarbah, John Mensah
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