The old myth that lawyers are buried face-down when die has been dispelled. There is a notion amongst a section of the public that lawyers defend ‘the indefensible’ as such, they are punished by getting buried face-down.
But speaking on Daybreak Upper East show on A1 Radio, Lawyer Clarke Noyoru of the Legal Resources Centre in Bolgatanga explained that such notion does not hold any iota of truth as lawyers are human beings and every human being has his/her customs, he/she follows.
“I’m not sure there is any tradition or family that will allow their member to be buried upside down because he/she belongs to a certain profession. If only there is a culture that allows that, fine but to say because such a member is a lawyer then he/she should be buried upside down there is no iota of truth.”
Touching on another assertion that lawyers tell lies in court, Lawyer Noyoru stressed that they simply follow the law and are not surprised because the ordinary person’s understanding of the law may be inadequate. “People think we tell lies because they are not guided by the law, the law is not what people think it is but the law is what it is,” he said.
He explained, “…for instance if the law says that to steal something means to take a thing of which one is not an owner with the intention to deprive the owner of it used; that is the law. The ordinary man will say that, if I picked your phone and the phone does not belong to me, it is stealing simpliciter. But that is not what the law says. The law says you have picked the phone, you have deprived the owner of it used with the intention to deprive the owner of it used. So, if you do not add with the intention to deprive the owner of it used, it is not stealing. That is the law, so, if I go to court to defend this, the ordinary person will not understand but that is the law.”
Lawyer Noyoru, therefore, called on the public to at all times be guided by the law and be good citizens.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Moses Apiah|Ghana
