HELENA OYOE QUARTEY OF ACCRA v. BOYE QUARTEY AND ASHONG QUARTEY

Helena Oyoe Quartey appealed a Ga Native Court’s judgment of 24 February 1951 arising from four consolidated suits concerning occupancy and tenant relations at house D.291/2. The Native Court awarded possession to Nii Boye Quartey and Ashong Quartey and ordered Helena to refund £23 19s. collected in rents. On appeal, her counsel, Mr. Mills Odoi, maintained that the property belonged within the Kpakpatse Family under head T. R. Quartey, that Helena, the oldest surviving female, had long collected rents, and that a prior Native Court rent judgment (Exhibit "A") could not bind her. Respondents’ counsel, Mr. Bossman, claimed the house originated as Kwate Kojo’s self-acquired property, later family property, that rates arrears led to a sale and transfer to Bikhazi, and asserted that Boye Quartey was appointed caretaker. The appellate court noted respondents could not point to record evidence of such an appointment, that the Native Court relied on judgments to which Helena was not a party, and reaffirmed that tenants who derive their tenancies from Helena cannot deny her title absent lawful replacement.