Negligence - road traffic accident - appellant's wife and child killed in the accident - suit claiming damages under the Fatal Accidents Act and the Law Reform Act - appellant having failed to plead vicarious liability and to failing to join the driver of the respondent's vehicle to the suit - whether these were fundamental omissions which affected the substance of the suit

Electoral law - election petition - whether in an election petition filed under section 44(1)(a) of the Constitution and section 20(1)(a) of the National Assembly and Presidential Elections Act a petitioner is obliged to particularize in the petition the number of votes each candidate received - whether the failure to state the number of votes that each candidate garnered in the election goes to jurisdiction and renders the petition fatally defective - interpretation of rule 4(1) of the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections Regulations

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Criminal law – appeal – first appeal - appellant convicted and sentenced for the offence of murder – appeal against sentence – when the appellate court may interfere with the trial court’s discretion to impose sentence

Criminal law – public prosecutor – trial court’s record failing to show name of the prosecutor – whether trial conducted by an incompetent prosecutor – whether trial conducted by a person not appointed by the Attorney General a nullity – when retrial can be ordered by the court - section 85 (2) 88 (1) Criminal Procedure Code

Criminal law - second appeal - second appeal against conviction and sentence for robbery with violence –questions to be confined to a second appeal – ingredients of the offence of robbery with violence – factors to be satisfied to prove the offence – appellant assaulted at a different location from where the property was stolen – whether circumstances constituted the offence of robbery with violence - sections 295, 296 (2) Criminal Procedure Code

[Ruling] Civil Practice and Procedure - extension of time - application for extension of time to file notice of appeal - reference of the decision of a single appellate judge to the full court - power of the full court to vary, discharge or reverse the decision of a single judge - principles that guide the full court in exercising its power - Court of Appeal Rules rule 54(1)(b)

CRIMINAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE - appeal - second appeal - appellant was tried on three counts of robbery with violence and one count of rape - grounds that the charge of rape as framed was incurably defective and could sustain the conviction based thereon - where the charge read “jointly with another not before the court had carnal knowledge" - effect of - whether this was prejudicial to the appellants and fatal to the conviction - Penal Code section 296(2); 140 (now repealed)

CONSTITUTION LAW - fundamental rights - breach of the appellant’s fundamental rights - where the appellant was arrested without warrant and detained in custody for a period of ten days beyond the permitted period of fourteen days - contention by prosecution that the burden can only be discharged by the them if the person accused raises a complaint - whether the burden is upon an accused person to complain to a judge about the unlawful detention in police custody - the Constitution section 72 (3)

JUDGMENT - styling a judgment - manner in which the heading of a judgment should be styled - difference between one, two and three judge bench - reasons why the Appellate Court styles its single unanimous judgments as “Judgment of the Court” - Criminal Procedure Code 359(2)