Under the Chieftaincy Act, 2008 (Act 759), Traditional Councils/Regional House of Chiefs have exclusive jurisdiction over chieftaincy matters, such as enskinment, destoolment and the recovery of stool property connected to them, which they hear through their Judicial Committees.
Outside chieftaincy matters, they have no judicial power, and only the state courts can try criminal cases. In other civil disputes, including many land disputes, chiefs act as customary arbitrators under the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798). Parties must consent both to take part and to be bound by the outcome, and chiefs cannot compel attendance or penalise refusal.
In 2011, the Supreme Court struck down the power of chiefs to compel attendance on pain of criminal sanction.
Serveral people have called for formal amendments to Ghana's Courts Act to integrate chiefs into the mainstream justice delivery framework.