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JUDGMENT
Judgment :
This matter arises under the provisions of Section 7 of the Public Lands Ordinance in regard to a small area of land acquired by the Government and lying between the St. Augustine's College Grounds and the Colonial Hospital at Cape Coast as delineated in pink on the plan admitted in evidence and marked as Exhibit "A".
On the 11th December, 1945 the Commissioner of Lands paid into Court a sum of £25 in respect of compensation for the acquisition of this area. No issue has been raised before me as to the sufficiency of the amount but solely as between two claimants as to which one is entitled to that money.
One J. A. Aggrey, claiming as the Supi of No. 4 (NKUM) Company avers that the Company are the owners in possession of that land.
The other, J. M. Cooke, claiming as head of the Eberadzi Stool Family of Cape Coast, avers that the land is the property of the Eberadzi Family Stool.
There was only one issue joined as to customary law that was relevant to the enquiry namely
"Can a Company such as the organization known as No. 4 (Nkum) Company own land?"
Mr. Sekyi for the Company argues that a Company may own land, but concedes the point that all companies are not necessarily in this position as owners.
Evidence of tradition in this matter followed closely the quatity of that advanced in all land disputes, one claimant's evidence being a flat contradiction of the others. To determine which traditional story bears the stamp either of truth or probability I look, in the first place, to the conduct of the parties in relation to the occupation and dealing with land, and lands adjacent to it, within the period of living memory.
The Nkum Company claim that they were the persons who cleared the virgin bush, that they are an entity whose dealings with the land can be questioned by no one outside of the Company and that from time immemorial they have been regarded as the absolute owners of this land.
The claimant, Cooke, avers that all lands in Cape Coast were apportioned in olden days to various Chiefs for the purposes of farming and that all persons occupying such lands do so with the permission of the Eberadzi Family.
Cape Coast African Hospital Acquisition
It is not disputed that this family is the Royal Family of Cape Coast and that from its members the Omanhene is nominated and ultimately selected. That there has been dissention within this Family as to the fairly recent nomination and election of the present Omanhene is clear, but that matt