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April 24, 1939
WEST AFRICAN COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
The following judgments were delivered :BANNERMAN, J.
This is an appeal from the judgment of the Acting Provincial Commissioner, Central Province, dated the 19th of August, 1938. The plaintiff's claim is for a declaration of title to a certain piece or parcel of land with building thereon situate at Royal Lane, Cape Coast, the boundaries of which are set out in the writ of summons.
The substantial questions to be determined by this Court are:
1. Whether the property in dispute is family property.
Whether the plaintiff and the members of his family acquiesced in the transaction between Samuel William Ferguson Duncan (the Mortgagor) and George ,F. Ferguson (the Mortgagee).
The Acting Provincial Commissioner has held by implication that the property is family property and there is abundant evidence on record to support this view.
Now if the property is family property it seems clear that Samuel William Ferguson Duncan cannot mortgage it without the consent of the family and there is no evidence to show that the consent of the family was obtained before the property was mortg;1.ged to the defendant.
According to the evidence of the plaintiff and his witnesses the property was originally owned by William Duncan who was the grandfather of Samuel William Ferguson Duncan and who, it is alleged, made a gift of it to members of his family including William Thomas Duncan the father of Samuel William Ferguson Duncan. Apparently William Thomas Duncan and some of the members of his father's family lived in the house for a considerable number of years, and the house was repaired by William Thomas Duncan.
The contention of the plaintiff is that the property being family property the said William Thomas Duncan could not inherit it from his father. The recitals in the Deed of Gift of the 1st January, 1933, declare that William Thomas Duncan inherited the property absolutely as the elder son of William Duncan. In my view the recitals in themselves are not conclusive, and in the absence of other evidence of a more definite nature the defendant cannot rely on them to defeat the plaintiff's claim. The plaintiff, however, goes further and contends that even if the property was the self-acquired property of William Duncan it became family property after his death according to Native Law and Custom as he did not alienate it in his lifetime. I entirely agree with this.
In my view the Acting Provincial Commissioner based his judgment on the assumption that the plaintiff a
AI Generated Summary
On appeal from the Acting Provincial Commissioner (Central Province), Bannerman, J., with Butler Lloyd, Ag. C.J., Nigeria, and Strother-Stewart, J., concurring, addressed a dispute over land and a building at Royal Lane, Cape Coast. The plaintiff sought a declaration of title, asserting the property was family-owned. Evidence traced the property to William Duncan, who did not alienate it before his death; his son William Thomas Duncan lived in and repaired the house. Although recitals in a 1 January 1933 Deed of Gift asserted absolute inheritance, the court found such recitals not conclusive. A mortgage by Samuel William Ferguson Duncan to George F. Ferguson lacked family consent, which is required for family property. The court further rejected any claim of acquiescence, noting prompt action once the mortgage and advertised sale were discovered. The appeal was allowed, the lower court’s judgment set aside, and judgment entered for the plaintiff with costs.