Philip Edward Archer

Philip Edward Archer was Chief Justice of Ghana from 1991 to 1995, presiding over the courts as the country returned to constitutional rule. He was born at Abontiakrom near Tarkwa on 22 February 1925 and died at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on 10 May 2002.

He went to St Peter's School in Sekondi and Adisadel College and studied at the University of Nottingham, qualifying as a solicitor in England in 1957. Back in Ghana he joined the Registrar-General's office, became Registrar-General in 1959 and judicial secretary in 1961.

He was appointed a High Court judge in 1964 and was one of the first four judges named to the Supreme Court of the Third Republic in 1980. He chaired the University of Cape Coast Council from 1979 to 1983, and after retiring from the bench in 1983 became full-time chairman of the Law Reform Commission. He was recalled as Chief Justice in 1991, joined the Council of State in 1995 and received the Order of the Star of Ghana in 2000.