AMARH NMAI BOI & ORS v. ADJETEY ADJEI & 12 ORS
2012
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- KUSI-APPIAH, J.A. (PRESIDING)
- HONYENUGA, J.A.
- DANQUAH (M/S), J.A
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Alternative dispute resolution
- Civil Procedure
2012
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Ghana Court of Appeal, per Kusi-Appiah J.A., affirmed a High Court judgment granting title and injunctive relief to siblings whose late father, Ebenezer Nmai Boi, purchased an approximately 8.28-acre North Teshie parcel in 1961 from Nii Klu Din, the Acting Mankralo of Teshie. Their acquisition was evidenced by a 1961 indenture registered at the Lands Commission, and they later obtained Land Title Certificate No. GA 20047 in January 2007. After defendants erected unauthorized structures, the plaintiffs sued and won in the High Court. On appeal, defendants argued statutory bar under the Limitation Act and raised fraud. The Court of Appeal held defendants had been adjudged trespassers by earlier arbitrations before the Elders of the Kle Musum Quarter and the C.D.R., were bound by those awards, and could not claim adverse possession; Section 10 protection did not apply. The court affirmed and dismissed the appeal.
KUSI-APPIAH, J.A.:
This is an appeal from the decision of the High Court, Accra given on 2nd June, 2010 per Ofosu-Quartey J. by which the learned judge entered judgment for the plaintiffs/respondents (hereinafter called the Plaintiffs) against the defendants/appellants (hereinafter called the defendants) and decreed title in the disputed land in the plaintiffs.
The case of the plaintiffs as gathered from their pleadings and especially evidence at the trial, is that they are siblings. They contended that the disputed land was purchased in their name by their late father, Ebenezer Nmai Boi in 1961 when they were minors from Nii Klu Din, the then Acting Mankralo of Teshie. They claim that the acquisition was evidence by an indenture executed on 22nd December, 1961 which was registered at the Lands Commission Secretariat as No. 3825/1985.
The plaintiffs aver further that soon after the purchase, they entered into possession and exercised overt acts of ownership over the disputed land by fixing corner pillars thereon, constantly keeping it free from weeds and warding off trespassers. That they then applied to be registered under the Land Title Registration Law but in the process they encountered some problems from some members of the Tsie We family of Teshie as portion of the land was found to fall within Tsie We family lands.
According to the plaintiffs, they eventually got their title registered and were issued with Land Title Certificate No. GA 20047 on 16th of January 2007.
They testified that the defendants subsequently entered the said land and started to put up unauthorized structures on same and continued to do so in spite of entreaties to them to stop their acts of trespass on their land.
On the 17th May, 2007, the plaintiffs therefore brought an action against the defendants jointly and severally, for the following reliefs:
“a A declaration of title to all that piece or parcel of land situate lying and being at North Teshie and bounded on the North by one Mr. A. Laryea’s land measuring 900 feet more or less on the Sourth by A. Kanton’s land measuring 900 feet more, or less on the East by the Vendors’s land measuring 400 feet more or less and on the West by Vendor’s land measuring 400 feet more or less and covering an approximate area of 8.28 acres.
b Recovery of possession.
c Damages for trespass
d Perpetual Injunction restraining the defendants their servants, agents, workmen and all those claiming through them from entering on to the land