Chief Justice Agim launches book

Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, the Chief Justice of The Gambia has said that the most important aspect of the national life of a country is its legal system, stressing that its strength determines state's structure.

According to him, the law today has assumed the larger dimension as an instrument of development in any society.

Chief Justice Agim made these remarks at the launch of a book he authored, entitled "The Gambia Legal System" on Monday 8th February 2010, at Timbooktu Bookshop in Bakau.

Chief Justice Agim stated that development plans and budgets are all channeled through the law, adding that legal system is a very vital aspect of life.

"We have to take very serious interest in how we organise our legal system and that can only be done if we understand the legal system," he remarked.

For Chief Justice Agim, he got the inspiration to write the book when he was invited by the West African Insurance Institute to lecture on legal system.

"From there, I developed the interest to write the book from the series of lectures I lectured there," he added.

The book, he stated, introduces into the legal system the structures in terms of institution of administration of law, the revolution of the law, and principal methodologies on the administration of the law. He further stated that the subject is topical.

"It is topical in the sense that the most important aspect of national life of a country is its legal system," he said.

"Lack of understanding of proper legal system will certainly mean that most of the mechanism may not be effective. You must first know and understand the legal system, the laws, the institutions that administrate those laws and what methodologies are adopted so that what ever reform is carried out will reflect that structure," said Chief Justice Agim.

This, he noted, will help to understand that a reform must have regards to the history of a particular process. "These are the issues you can only understand if you understand legal system," he said.

Chief Justice Agim added that the book is also very useful for law students, because of its comprehensiveness and enough information. Among other areas captured in the book include evolutionary laws, customary laws, courts, and interpretative processes.