EMMANUEL ADJEI MENSAH v. NUUMO ADJEI KWANKO II & ORS
2019
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- F.G. Korbieh, J.A. (Presiding)
- Cecilia H. Sowah (Ms), J.A.
- Merley A. Wood (Mrs.), J.A.
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Civil Procedure
2019
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The plaintiff, representing the Tsie We family, sued the 1st defendant and the 2nd defendant for trespassing on family land. The trial court dismissed the case as frivolous and vexatious, leading to an appeal. The appeal court upheld the dismissal, establishing that the Tsie We family land is synonymous with Kle Musum Quarter land and the 1st defendant had the capacity to alienate the land. Legal principles of res judicata and the capacity of family heads to sue or be sued were upheld, along with the specific exemptions under the Illiterates Protection Act.
F.G. KORBIEH, J.A.
The plaintiff/appellant in this case (hereinafter referred to only as the plaintiff) issued the writ of summons and statement of claim in his capacity as a principal member of the Tsie We family of Teshie, Accra and sued for and on behalf of the said family.
He sued the 1st defendant whom he described as “the Ayiku and Osabu Wulomo of Teshie as well as a member of the Tsie We Family and the Spiritual Head of the Kle Musum Quarter of Teshie”.
The plaintiff also joined the 2nd defendant (an incorporated legal entity “believed to be engaged in real estate development”) to the suit because, according to him, it had trespassed on the land in dispute which belonged to the Tsie We family.
Also joint to the suit was the 3rd defendant.
According to the plaintiff’s narration of events in his statement of claim, the Tsie We family is one of the five constituent family units of the Kle Musum Quarter of Teshie but each family unit has its family head (or head of family); accordingly, headship of the Kle Musum Quarter and the Tsie We family are never held by one and the same person at the same time.
In view of the fact that there is rivalry for the headship of the Tsie We family between the 1st defendant, one Nii Nortey Sedua and one Nii Agor Adjei, the plaintiff brought the action in court in order to protect the family’s land.
The said family land is exclusively owned by the Tsie We family and not jointly with the Kle Musum Quarter and was registered in the name of that family with Land Certificate No.GA 14112 in Land Register Volume 02, Folio 213 issued on 17/8/1998.
In a number of cases, it was decided that the 1st defendant was not and could not act as head of family of the Tsie We family.
And yet by an indenture dated 15/6/2016, the 1st defendant, in purporting to act as the head of family of the Kle Musum/Tsie We family, granted the land in dispute to the 2nd defendant.
The indenture is a nullity since the 1st defendant, who is an illiterate, thumb-printed it without a jurat which is in breach of the Illiterates Protection Act.
Besides, the Kle Musum Quarter has no interest in the land in dispute to grant to the 2nd defendant.
The 3rd defendant also registered the defective indenture for the 2nd defendant thus making the registration of the indenture a void and null act.
The registration of the land in dispute by the 3rd defendant for the 2nd defendant was by mistake.
The 1st defendant’s conduct in persistently dealing with Tsie W