JAMES EDWARD KWAKU SAMPSON v. ALBERT THEODORE LUTTERODT AND THOMAS SHANG SIMPSON

A colonial-era land dispute in Christiansborg involved the Awura Kpakpa family, the Stool of Osu, and the Anahor Quarter regarding land around the present Labadi Road. The 1st defendant, A. T. Lutterodt, and the 2nd defendant, Simpson (family head), asserted ownership south of the road based on an alleged nineteenth-century grant to a European, Troas/Tros. Earlier litigation included Fleischer’s 1928 case against O. A. Lutterodt and a controversial demarcation ordered by Mantse Dowuona III, later challenged in Lucy Nunoo v. Abudoo and C. A. Lutterodt and affirmed by the West African Court of Appeal. In 1943, the Osu Stool conveyed part of the disputed land to the plaintiff; when the plaintiff erected pillars, Lutterodt removed them. Applying Native Customary Law, the court held that unalienated Christiansborg land is attached to the Osu Stool, that grants to strangers must be by the Stool, and that land south of Labadi Road was not granted to Troas. The court awarded a declaration of title, £5 trespass damages against Lutterodt, and an injunction against both defendants.