When a Lawyer’s Address Replaces the Defendant’s: The Procedural Non-Compliance Undermining Appearance in Ghana’s Civil Courts: A Call for Compliance with Order 9 Rule 1(2) of C.I. 47.

Repeated non-compliance may acquire the appearance of legitimacy simply because it is repeated. One practitioner files an Appearance containing only chambers’ details and address and it is accepted. Another follows. Registries and courts become accustomed to the form, opposing counsel cease objecting, and eventually what began as departure from the Rule comes to be regarded as normal practice. No one formally amends Order 9. Its words remain exactly where they have always been, yet professional conduct gradually develops as though part of the provision had disappeared. That is a subtle form of legal erosion.