ACHEAMPONG v. ACHEAMPONG

Amissah J.A. addressed a preliminary objection raised by the defendant questioning whether a spouse married under customary law could sue the other spouse, during the subsistence of that union, for breach of a promise to marry under the Marriage Ordinance, Cap. 127 (1951 Rev.). He divided the inquiry into two issues: the capacity of a spouse in a customary marriage to sue the other, and the maintainability of a claim for breach of promise under the Ordinance. Drawing on Archer J.’s decision in Smith v. Smith [1965] G.L.R. 730 and the Married Women’s Property Ordinance, Cap. 131 (1951 Rev.), he explained that actions between spouses can be maintained and that customary law does not adopt the English fiction of marital unity. Emphasizing the different incidents of Ordinance and customary marriages and the fairness of allowing recovery where consideration was given to transform the marriage, he noted public policy could potentially bar such suits but found the objection premature. He overruled the preliminary objection and directed the case to proceed.