J. GODSON HUSUNUKPE v. VORMAWOR DZEGBLOR OF AMEDZIEKOPE
November 24, 1951
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- JACKSON, J
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Probate and Succession
- Civil Procedure
- Tort Law
November 24, 1951
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
On appeal from the Native Appeal Court of the Anlo State, Jackson, J addressed a dispute over a coco-nut plantation once farmed by Sodorlordji. The plaintiff-respondent asserted ownership and sought damages for trespass, claiming a purchased title through Dogbe Aglago Katako Denu. The defendant-appellant, Sodorlordji’s nephew, had helped establish the plantation, built a house to supervise it, and continued in possession after Sodorlordji’s death. Applying Anlo customary succession, the court emphasized that, upon a property owner’s death, the head of the extended family takes charge and later appoints and hands over to a successor; children succeed, but until formal handover, possessory title may prevail against strangers. Seme, Sodorlordji’s daughter, had a son, Ahiaku Gawu Apone, whose contingent interests could not be overridden; if Seme’s 16 September 1949 conveyance was genuine, it purported to transfer an estate she did not possess. The court held the plaintiff had no title and allowed the appeal, restoring the Native Court’s judgment, with costs.
Judgment:
This is an appeal from a judgment of the Native Appeal Court of the Anlo State delivered on the 27th November, 1950, reversing a judgment of the Native Court of Anlo-Some Area given on the 11th July, 1959.
The claim was one for damages for trespass to land.
The Native Court found that the coco-nut plantation originally belonged to one Sodorlordji. The only evidence as to the manner in which that land "belonged" to Sodorlordji was that afforded by the witness Dogbe Aglago Katako Denu whose testimony was that the witness' father had given his land to Sodorlordji to farm upon. It is this Denu through whom the plaintiffrespondent claims title by purchase.
Whether Sodorlordji was the absolute owner or whether this title wa s restricted to the use and occupation of the land is not very material since upon his death that interest in the land descended to the person entitled by customary law and by the Anlo customary law it is accepted that the children "succeed". The Native Court found that during Sodorlordji's lifetime the defendantappellant, who was his nephew, assisted Sodorlordji to establish a coco-nut plantation and built a house within that plantation from which he supervised it.
The Native Court found that the appellant, upon the death of his uncle, succeeded to this property and that it was not handed over to the daughter of Sodorlordji who was one Seme as "custom demands."
In the case of Tamakloe & Ors. v. Attipoe and Tamakloe (1), the law as to succession by Anlo Custom was discussed at length, and I accept the law found therein to be the law which governs the rights of the family in this action. It appears that upon the death of a man owning property, the head of the family (and that means the extended family) takes charge of the property and then after a family meeting hands over that property to the person appointed to be the "successor" for the persons beneficially entitled. There it was held that the
similarly estops another claiming under him and under whose title the plaintiffrespondent claimed.
Seme it appears has a son, namely Ahiaku Gawu Apone, who by the ordinary rules of succession, would inherit the use and occupation of the land upon the death of his mother Seme. If the document dated the 16th September, 1949, was a genuine one, then quite clearly Seme was conveying to the purchaser an estate which she did not possess and was over-riding the contingent interest of the person entitled to succeed to the interest in the pro