Chief Justice of Liberia
Encyclopedia
The Chief Justice of Liberia is the head of the judicial branch of the Government of the Republic of Liberia  and the chief judge
Chief judge
Chief Judge is a title that can refer to the highest-ranking judge of a court that has more than one judge. The meaning and usage of the term vary from one court system to another...

 of the Supreme Court of Liberia
Supreme Court of Liberia
The Supreme Court of Liberia is the highest judicial body in the West African nation of Liberia. The court consists of the Chief Justice of Liberia and four Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate...

.

Appointment and term

Article 54(c) of the Constitution
Constitution of Liberia
The Constitution of Liberia is the supreme law of the Republic of Liberia. The current constitution, which came into force on 6 January 1986, replaced the Liberian Constitution of 1847, which had been in force since the independence of Liberia...

 stipulates that the Chief Justice is appointed by the President of Liberia and confirmed by the Senate
Senate of Liberia
The Senate of Liberia is the upper house of the bicameral legislative branch of Liberia, and together with the House of Representatives comprises the Legislature of Liberia...

. Per Article 68, eligibility for the position of Chief Justice requires that the candidate:
  • be a citizen of Liberia;
  • be of good moral character
    Moral character
    Moral character or character is an evaluation of a particular individual's durable moral qualities. The concept of character can imply a variety of attributes including the existence or lack of virtues such as integrity, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or habits...

    ;
  • have been a counselor of the Supreme Court Bar for at least five years.


Article 71 states that the Chief Justice "shall hold their offices during good behavior." According to Article 72(b), the Chief Justice must retire from office upon reaching the age of 70, though he may remain on the Court long enough to render judgment or perform any judicial duties regarding matters he began addressing before reaching that age.

Duties

In addition to acting as head judge on the Supreme Court and mananging all subordinate courts, the Constitution provides several duties to the Chief Justice. In thhe case of impeachment of the President or Vice President, Article 43 mandates that the Chief Justice preside over the trial in the Senate. Additionally, Article 53(a) requires the Chief Justice to swear in the President in front of a joint session
Joint session
A joint session or joint convention is, most broadly, when two normally-separate decision-making groups meet together, often in a special session or other extraordinary meeting, for a specific purpose....

 of the Legislature
Legislature of Liberia
The Legislature of Liberia is bicameral, consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives , in the same manner as the Congress of the United States....

.

Removal from office

The Chief Justice may be removed by office upon impeachment
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....

 by the House of Representatives
House of Representatives of Liberia
The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the bicameral Liberian Legislature. Legislative elections took place on 11 October 2005, and the elected members took office in January 2006.-Candidate eligibility:...

 and conviction by the Senate. Article 71 of the Constitution stipulates that the Chief Justice may only be removed in the event of "misconduct, gross breach of duty, inability to perform the functions of their office, or conviction in a court of law for treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...

, bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...

 or other infamous crimes." In the event of an impreachment trial of the Chief Justice in the Senate, the President of the Senate
President of the Senate
The President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate, and is the speaker of other assemblies.The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for example, the President of the Senate of Nigeria is second in line...

 presides over the proceedings.

Only one Chief Justice, Chea Cheapoo
Chea Cheapoo
Chea Job Cheapoo, Sr. is a Liberian politician who served as the 15th Chief Justice of Liberia from July 1987 until his impeachment and removal from office on December 2 of that year....

, has been removed in this manner.

List of Chief Justices

align="bottom" style="text-align:left; padding-left:0.25in;"|♦ Served as Chief Justice in extra-constitutional transitional government
§ Impeached and removed from office
No. Chief Justice Term of Office Nominated by President
1 Samuel Benedict
Samuel Benedict
Samuel Benedict was a Liberian politician and jurist who served as the 1st Chief Justice of Liberia. He was born a slave in the U.S. state of Georgia in 1792, and purchased his freedom and that of his family. He emigrated to Liberia in 1835, on the ship Indiana.Prior to Liberia’s independence,...

 
1847 - 1854
Joseph Jenkins Roberts
Joseph Jenkins Roberts
Joseph Jenkins Roberts was the first and seventh President of Liberia. Born free in Norfolk, Virginia, USA, Roberts emigrated to Liberia in 1829 as a young man. He opened a trading store in Monrovia, and later engaged in politics...

2 John Day
John Day (judge)
John Day was a Liberian politician and jurist who served as the 2nd Chief Justice of Liberia from 1854 until his death in 1859....

 
1854 - 1859
3 Boston Jenkins Drayton
Boston Jenkins Drayton
Boston Jenkins Drayton was a Liberian politician and Lutheran minister who served as the 3rd Chief Justice of Liberia from 1861 until 1864. He had previously served as the final Governor of the Republic of Maryland from 1855 until its annexation by Liberia on 18 March 1857.Born in Charleston,...

 
1861 - 1864
Stephen Allen Benson
Stephen Allen Benson
Stephen Allen Benson served as the 2nd President of Liberia from 1856 to 1864. Prior to that, he served as the 3rd Vice President of Liberia from 1854 to 1856 under President Joseph Jenkins Roberts....

4 Edward James Roye
Edward James Roye
Edward James Roye served as the fifth President of Liberia from 1870 to his overthrow and subsequent violent death in 1871. He had previously served as the 4th Chief Justice of Liberia from 1865 until 1868...

 
1865 - 1868
Daniel Bashiel Warner
Daniel Bashiel Warner
Daniel Bashiel Warner served as the 3rd President of Liberia from 1864 to 1868. Prior to this, he served as the 5th Vice President of Liberia under President Stephen Allen Benson from 1860 to 1864, and as the 3rd Secretary of State in the cabinet of Joseph Jenkins Roberts from 1854 to...

5 C. L. Parsons 
1869 - 1894
James Spriggs Payne
James Spriggs Payne
James Spriggs Payne served as the fourth and eighth President of Liberia from 1868 to 1870 and 1876 to 1878. He was the last President to belong to Liberia's Republican Party.-Early life:...

6 Zacharia B. Roberts 
1895 - 1910
Joseph James Cheeseman
Joseph James Cheeseman
Joseph James Cheeseman was the 12th President of Liberia. He was born in Edina, Grand Bassa County, Liberia and was elected three times on the True Whig ticket...

7 James A. Toliver 
1911 - 1913
Arthur Barclay
Arthur Barclay
Arthur Barclay was the 15th President of Liberia, serving from 1904 to 1912.-Early life and education:Barclay was born at Bridgetown, Barbados, on July 31, 1854, the tenth of twelve children of Anthony and Sarah Barclay...

8 J. J. Dossen
J. J. Dossen
James Jenkins Dossen ) was a Liberian politician and jurist, serving as the Vice President of Liberia from 1906 to 1912 under President Arthur Barclay. He was elected president of the Liberia College in 1913, and associate judge of the Supreme Court of Liberia for 10 years, before holding the...

 
1913 - 1924
Daniel Edward Howard
Daniel Edward Howard
Daniel Edward Howard was the 16th President of Liberia, serving from 1912 to 1920. Born in the town of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, he worked his way up through the civil service to become secretary of the True Whig Party, the country's only political party at the time.Howard was elected...

9 F. E. R. Johnson 
1924 - 1929
Charles D. B. King
Charles D. B. King
Charles Dunbar Burgess King was a politician in Liberia of Freetown Creole descent . He was a member of the True Whig Party, which ruled the country from 1878 until 1980...

10 Louis Arthur Grimes
Louis Arthur Grimes
Louis Arthur Grimes served as the 10th Chief Justice of Liberia and is considered one of the most important jurists in the history of Liberia. He was appointed Attorney General by President Charles D. B. King and served in this position from 1922 to 1932 when he was appointed Secretary of State by...

 
1929 - 1949
Edwin Barclay
Edwin Barclay
Edwin James Barclay was a Liberian politician. A member of the True Whig political party, he served as the 18th President of the country from 1930 until 1944. Under his leadership, Liberia was an ally of the United States during World War II....

11 H. Nimine Russell 
1949 - 1956
William Tubman
William Tubman
William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman was a Liberian politician. He was the 19th President of Liberia from 1944 until his death in 1971....

12 A. Dash Wilson
A. Dash Wilson
A. Dash Wilson was a Liberian politician who served as the 12th Chief Justice of Liberia from 1958 to 1970.-References:...

 
1958 - 1970
13 James A.A. Pierre 
1971 - 1980
Emmanuel Gbalazeh
Emmanuel Gbalazeh
Emmanuel N. Gbalazeh served as the 16th Chief Justice of Liberia from 1988 until the collapse of the Liberian government in September 1990...

1980 - 1986
Samuel Doe
Samuel Doe
Samuel Kanyon Doe was the 21st President of Liberia, serving from 1986 until his assassination in 1990. He had previously served as Chairman of the People's Redemption Council from 1980 to 1986. He was the first indigenous head of state in Liberian history.Doe was a part of a rural tribe in inland...

14 James N. Nagbe
James N. Nagbe
James Nagbe Nagbe served as the 14th Chief Justice of Liberia from 1986 until his resignation in 1987.Nagbe represented Montserrado County during the 1983 Constitutional Convention to draft a new constitution for the country due to the previous constitution's suspension after the 1980 coup...

 
1986 - 1987
15 Chea Cheapoo
Chea Cheapoo
Chea Job Cheapoo, Sr. is a Liberian politician who served as the 15th Chief Justice of Liberia from July 1987 until his impeachment and removal from office on December 2 of that year....

§
1987
16 Emmanuel Gbalazeh
Emmanuel Gbalazeh
Emmanuel N. Gbalazeh served as the 16th Chief Justice of Liberia from 1988 until the collapse of the Liberian government in September 1990...

 
1988 - 1990
James G. Bull♦
1992 - 1996
Amos Sawyer
Amos Sawyer
Dr. Amos Claudius Sawyer was the President of the Interim Government of National Unity in Liberia . Sawyer was born to Abel Sawyer and Sarah Sawyer in 1945, of Sarpo ethnicity; his siblings include Joe Sawyer; the Sawyers were a prominent family in Sinoe County...

Frances Johnson-Morris♦
1996 - 1997
Ruth Perry
Ruth Perry
Ruth Sando Fahnbulleh Perry was Chairwoman of the Council of State of Liberia from 3 September 1996 until 2 August 1997, following the First Liberian Civil War...

17 Gloria Musu-Scott 
1997 - 2003
Charles Taylor
Henry Reed Cooper♦
2003 - 2006
Transitional Government of Liberia
18 Johnnie N. Lewis
Johnnie Lewis
Johnnie N. Lewis is the 18th and current Chief Justice of Liberia. A native of Sinoe County, Lewis was educated at the University of Liberia in Monrovia and at Yale Law School in the United States. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, he served as a judge in Liberia’s circuit court...

 
2006–present Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

External links

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