1933
DIVISIONAL COURT (COLONIAL)
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Michelin, Acting C.J., decided an interpleader brought by devisees Gilbert Emmanuel Kwate Ofosu Jones Quartey and Hansen William Kwatei Asoasa Jones Quartey to stop the sheriff’s sale of a property at Pagan Road and Hospital Lane, Ussher Town, Accra. The late R. E. Quartey had borrowed from the late George Owoo and, in August 1916, specifically charged the Ussher Town property and deposited its title deeds, creating an equitable mortgage. After Quartey’s death in 1917 and probate of his will, Owoo obtained a 1921 judgment against Quartey’s executors. With a balance unpaid in 1933, Owoo’s executors levied execution and advertised the property for sale, prompting the devisees’ claim that title vested in them. Relying on Locke King’s Act, Pembroke v. Friend, and Cooke v. Gregson, the court held the testator’s equity of redemption remained a legal asset in the executors’ hands, capable of attachment and sale, but required fresh notices clarifying that only the equity of redemption would be sold and stayed execution for one month.
The following judgment was delivered: Michelin, Acting C.J.
This is an interpleader proceeding in which the claimants Gilbert Emmanuel Kwate Ofosu Jones Quartey and Hansen William Kwatei Asoasa Jones Quartey claim that the property
seized in execution as being the property of the judgment-debtors the executors of the last will and testament of the late R. E. Quartey, deceased, to wit, " all that piece or parcel of land situate lying and " being at the junction of Pagan Road and Hospital Lane in Ussher "Town, Accra, and bounded on the North by Charles Addy's land " and measuring 104 feet 10 inches more or less on the South by "Hospital Lane and measuring 112 feet 4 inches more or less on "the East by A. G. Peter's land and measuring 75 feet more or " less and on the West by Pagan Road and measuring 75 feet more "or less" should be declared and adjudged to be the property of the claimants and should be released forthwith from execution.
The facts are shortly as follows:-
During the lifetime of the late R. E. Quartey, deceased, he obtained a loan from the judgment creditor, the late George Owoo, deceased. The late R. E. Quartey died in January, 1917. After his death, in the year 1921, the judgment-creditor obtained judgment in the Divisional Court, Accra, against the Executors of the last will and testament of the deceased, probate having been granted to them by this Court on the 30th August, 1918, for the sum of £260 with costs assessed at the sum of £7:18s.6d. The late R. E. Quartey prior to his death, to wit, on the 24th August, 1916, had by an instrument under his hand bearing that date specifically charged the house and land situate at Ussher Town, Accra, now seized in execution with the payment of the debt in respect of which the judgment of this Court was subsequently obtained, and had also deposited his title deeds in respect of such property with the late George Owoo.
A portion of the judgment still remaining unpaid, the Executors of the judgment-creditor issued a writ of " fieri facias " against the judgment-debtors in respect of the sum of £98 : 13s. 6 d. inclusive of costs, and the property now claimed was seized in execution and advertised for a sale to take place on the 12th June, 1933. In the meantime, however, the present interpleader proceedings were instituted.
According to the case for the claimants, the property seized in execution was held by them as joint tenants under the will of the late R. E. Quartey, deceased, which was admitte