From the facts before the court, it can be presumed that the act of the Respondent in
withholding the judgment sum would have amounted to a continued violation in so
far as the decision of the national court was final. However, this is not the case in
the present application as the decision of the Circuit Court has been set aside by the
Supreme Court of Liberia. Consequent upon this, the issue of limitation statute raised
by the Respondent does not arise in the circumstance as the res is inexistent.
The Respondent further contends that the Applicant lacks the capacity to institute
the suit having no evidence of incorporation
The term legal personality is defined in the Black’s Law Dictionary 9th Edition as
“the particular device by which the law creates or recognizes units to which it
ascribes certain powers and capacity”.
Legal personality can be conferred either by statute or acquired by registration and
it is a prerequisite for non-natural persons to institute action either for themselves or
on behalf of others.
With respect to the capacity of the Applicant, it is trite that for a non-natural person
to commence any action before this court, such a person must be known to law. This
implies that the Applicant must be duly registered under its national laws.
In response to the Respondent’s contention as to the capacity of the Applicant to
institute this action, the Applicant annexed a certificate of incorporation
(DOCUMENT 13) from the Liberia Business Registry with enterprise code:
051041984 in proof of its registration. The Respondent has however not led any
evidence challenging the authenticity of the said company registration.
In CNDD V. REPUBLIC OF COTE D’IVOIRE CCJELR 2004-2009 pg 317 para
19, the Court in the absence of any contrary evidence considered the existence of the
Applicant as an association created in accordance with the law of Cote D’Ivoire and
having legal status. See also SERAP V. The President FRN and 8 ors 2010 CCJELR
pg 246.
In view of the above, the court holds that in the absence of any contrary evidence,
the Applicant is a legal entity duly registered under the laws of the Republic of
Liberia and thus has a legal capacity to institute this action. The objection regarding
the Applicant’s legal status therefore fails. However, this action must be considered
inadmissible in view of the fact that its substance is devoid of the foundation of
human rights violation.
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