ADDISON v. ACHEAMPONG
1970
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- Edusei J
Areas of Law
- Customary Law
- District Court Procedures
1970
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The judgment recognizes the validity of customary practices among the Akans and confirms the application of customary law in district courts, particularly where the magistrate is a non-lawyer.
EXTRACT FROM JUDGMENT:
“It is the known customary practice, at least, among the Akans that issues such as in this appeal are usually settled between the two families concerned without the young man and the seduced girl being necessarily present at such meetings. The same procedure is followed when a man asks for a hand of a girl in marriage. It is not a simple agreement between the man and the girl who wish to get married according to natïve custom. The marriage contract is a matter between the two families; the girl’s consent will of course be sought. But whatever happens at such meetings between the two families will be communicated to the man and the girl who are the personae dramatis by their respective families… After all the rules in a district court immediately before the commencement of the Courts Decree, 1966 (N.L.C.D. 84) shall with the necessary modifications apply in a district court (grade I or grade II), see paragraph 88(4) of N.L.C.D. 84, and this provision applies, in my judgment, with greater force in district court grade II where the magistrate is almost invariably a non-lawyer and the law applicable is more often than not customary law as in the instant case and the litigants illiterates.”