BROBBEY, JSC & ORS v. MR. PAT YAWSON & GEORGE EDUSEI-POKU
June 9, 2010
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- BROBBEY, JSC (PRESIDING)
- ANSAH, JSC
- DOTSE, JSC
- YEBOAH, JSC
- AKOTO-BAMFO (MRS), JSC
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Civil Procedure
- Evidence Law
June 9, 2010
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Supreme Court of Ghana, per Yeboah JSC, allowed an appeal arising from a long-running land dispute in Tudu, southeast of Adabraka, Accra. The respondents-plaintiffs sought a declaration of title and other reliefs, asserting acquisition by their grandfather around 1911 and reliance on a statutory declaration and a Land Title Certificate. The appellants-defendants traced title to Mr. Yawson, through inheritance, vesting by letters of administration, and sale to a second defendant’s firm for a warehouse, and counterclaimed for title, trespass, and cancellation for fraud. Although both sides did not dispute ownership by their predecessors, the core issue was a boundary dispute. Despite an interlocutory order appointing the Chief Surveyor to make a composite plan and determine boundaries, the trial judge visited the locus but made no notes, relied on exhibits 1 and 2, and entered judgment for the plaintiffs; the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. Emphasizing that Land Title Certificates are prima facie evidence of title and not conclusive of boundaries, and noting the lack of cogent reasons addressing the boundary, the Supreme Court ordered a fresh hearing to ascertain the exact boundary.
YEBOAH, JSC:-
The respondents in this appeal commenced an action against the appellants as defendant at the High Court, Accra. By the amended writ of summons the plaintiff claimed against the defendants jointly and severally, a declaration of title to the land described in the schedule and other ancillary reliefs. The land the subject matter of the action is at Tudu, South East of Adabraka, Accra.
The claim of the plaintiffs is based on the simple ground, that the land was acquired by their grandfather in or about 1911. The said grandfather whose name was not pleaded enjoyed the use of the land and upon his death the land became the property of the father of the plaintiffs’. It was after the death of the plaintiff’s father that the property passed to the plaintiffs’ as successors. It was part of the pleadings and evidence that the statutory declaration covering the land was used to procure a
Land Title Certificate covering the land. The cause of action against the defendants is that the defendants had broken the wall on part of the land which serves as the boundary between the defendants’ predecessors-in-title’s land and that of the plaintiffs.
The defendant controverted most of the allegations of facts pleaded but it appears that when the evidence was led it became clear that the defendants acquired their land from one Mr. Yawson who inherited the land from his father. After the death of the first defendant’s father, the property passed on to the first defendant. A vesting asset was prepared after the administrators had applied for and obtained letters of administration for the property to be vested in the first defendant who sold the property to the second defendant. In the course of his evidence, the second defendant claimed that the property was acquired in the name of his firm for a warehouse. The defendants’ also counterclaimed for title and damages for trespass and prayed for a further order for cancellation of the Land Title Certificate granted to the plaintiffs, on grounds of fraud.
From the record of proceedings, several interlocutory proceedings were taken before the trial court which do not appear to be necessary for the determination of this appeal.
As stated above, both parties did not dispute that their predecessors-in-title owned their respective lands. Even though several issues were joined to establish the title of both parties, at the application for directions stage, the core issue which the trial court was confronted to resolve w