CHAHIN AND ANOTHER v. BOATENG

JUDGMENT OF KORSAH C.J.

Korsah C.J. delivered the judgment of the court. The plaintiff's claim is for an account of what, if anything, is due under and by virtue of the mortgage No. 62/1954 dated the 15th December, 1953, between the plaintiff and the defendant, and to redeem the property comprised therein.

In the course of the proceedings it was revealed that the plaintiff had made certain payments to the defendant, for which the defendant had refused to issue receipts. The plaintiff contended that he had made six payments of £G250 each for which, the defendant refused to give him receipts; the defendant on the other hand admitted receiving five payments of £G125 each, for which he had not given receipts to the plaintiff. The five payments of £G125 each, the defendant alleged, were payments of interest on the loan secured by the said mortgage.

The defendant is a licensed moneylender carrying on his business by virtue of the Moneylenders Ordinance1 of which section 19 is material to [p.176] the issues raised in this case. The section reads as follows:

"19. (1) Every moneylender shall give a receipt for every payment made to him on account of a loan or of interest thereon. Every such receipt shall be given immediately the payment is made.

(2) Every moneylender shall keep a book (which shall be securely bound and paged so that leaves cannot be removed or inserted without apparent damage) in which he shall enter in connection with every loan made by him -

(a) the date on which the loan was made;

(b) the amount of the principal;

(c) the rate of interest;

(d) all sums received in respect of the loan or the interest thereon, with the dates of payment there of and shall produce such book when required to do so by any Court.

(3) The entries in the said book shall be made forthwith on the making of the loan or the receipt of sums paid in respect thereof as the case may be.

(4) Any moneylender who fails to comply with any of the requirements of this section shall not be entitled to enforce any claim in respect of any transaction in relation to which the default shall have been made. He shall also be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds or in the case of a continuing offence to a fine not exceeding five pounds for each day or part of a day during which such offence continues."

Counsel for the plaintiff in his final address at the trial made the following submission thus:

"Submits the conduct of