When Parliament Legislates Treason: Constitutional Supremacy, Legislative Power and the Limits of Criminalization in Ghana
The framework proposed here rests upon a single organizing idea, which may be called the doctrine of definitional supremacy. Where the Constitution itself defines conduct as criminal and attaches to that definition a penalty, a forum, a mode of trial or a rule of decision, the constitutional definition governs the conduct and not merely the name of the offence. The doctrine yields two operative principles and one remedial protocol, and it is administered through a test of five limbs.
Dr. Godwin Gaduga, Esq.