Independent court crucial - Blair

Accra, June 27, GNA - Mr. William Blair, a visiting professor of law at the London School of Economics, on Monday said an independent court system was crucial for the development of the financial system in any country.

Delivering this year's Martyrs Day lectures in Accra, Mr. Blair said a strong court system was important because it would help strengthen the various agreements and standards, which currently governed financial institutions and transactions.

The lecture was in memory of the three High Court Judges murdered on June 30 1982.

Mr Blair said Information and Communication Technology (ICT) had removed obstacles and improved interconnections among financial institutions making the consequence of the failure of the financial system not limited in the jurisdiction of that country alone but able to trigger global crisis.

He said the standards and practices that had emerged after several years of practice were in themselves limited in addressing adequately the needs of the global financial system.

Mr. Blair said it was therefore, necessary That, in the absence of an emerging global financial law, viable global standards were established to address concerns of integrity of the financial system world-wide and not in any particular jurisdiction.

He expressed optimism that whatever standards and rules emerged, global financial law would be shaped by the experiences of the legal system and allow financial markets all over the world to achieve uniformity.

Mr. Blair lauded the establishment of the commercial courts in Ghana and expressed the hope of a fruitful cooperation with the British court system.