ALEX KOJO AHIAVE v. KWAME SASU
2016
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- GYAESAYOR, JA (PRESIDING)
- ACQUAYE, JA
- DZAMEFE, JA
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Civil Procedure
- Evidence Law
2016
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
In this appeal, the defendant challenged the High Court's decision awarding ownership of a disputed land to the plaintiff. The appellate court found that the trial court erred in its judgment given evidence of compulsory state acquisition of the land in 1975, which extinguished any prior private ownership claims. The court also considered the burden on the appellant to show that the judgment was against the weight of evidence and statutory limitations barring the plaintiffs claim. The appellate court emphasized the 'nemo dat' rule, requiring capacity to be proved before any substantive hearing. Consequently, the appeal was allowed, and the High Courts decision was set aside.
GYAESAYOR, JA
The defendant/appellant in this appeal is seeking to reverse the judgment of the High Court dated 25th day of April 2012. That judgment granted ownership of the disputed land to the plaintiff/respondent. The defendant/appellant on 2nd May 2012 filed the notice of appeal to challenge the decision of the High Court. Before I deal with the grounds of appeal I intend to give a brief history of the case which culminated in this appeal.
It is the case of the plaintiff/respondent that he became the owner of the disputed land at Tantra hills as a result of a gift to him by one Madam Mary Prempeh sometime in 1980. By his statement of claim, he averred that his grantor also got the land as a gift from Dr. Charles Elias Reindorf, the then head and lawful representative of the Onamrokor Adain family. The plaintiff claimed to have erected corner pillars and dug foundation for the construction work on the land.
In recent times according to the plaintiff, the defendant who claimed to have acquired title to the same piece of land from the Onamrokor family, had constructed a fence wall and attempting to build a residential facility. Subsequently, the statement of claim was amended with leave of the court and this was filed on 20th June 2011.
The amended statement of defence was filed on 23rd April 2011. The defendant denied every material allegation by the plaintiff and said the land is a subject of a lease between him and Nii Quarshie Solomon acting head and lawful representative of the Onamrokor Adain family of Accra for a period of 99 years.
After acquiring the land, he went into possession by erecting a fence wall around the perimeter of the land. He then put up a dwelling house on one of the plots and a structure on the second plot, put in a caretaker and allowed him to farm on it. It was bare land when he acquired it.
The defendant further averred that he was on the land from 1988 and it was not until April 2009 when plaintiff/respondent started laying claim to the land. The defendant denied receiving any letter from plaintiff’s lawyer in 2009 because he was at all material times in the USA. He then proceeded to plead the limitation decree NRCD 54 of 1972.
After taking evidence, the trial court gave its judgment. I found no evidence on record that a fresh application for directions was filed and neither do I find evidence that a reply was filed to the amended statement of defence filed by the appellant. The notice of appeal can be found at page 1