MABSOUT v. JOS HANSEN & SOEHNE (GHANA) LTD.

JUDGMENT OF AMISSAH J.A

The facts of this case are simple and mainly undisputed. The plaintiff was owner of two cars, an Oldsmobile registered No. AF 182, and an Opel Kapitan, registered No. AN 9751, in 1962. These cars were bought from a company which went by the name of Wabtraco. The managing director of the company was one Mr. Kanawatey who, at the beginning of the dispute between the parties, that is some time in May 1962, was apparently being held at the police station at Nima in Accra pending his deportation from this country. The cars were also being kept at the time by the police. The [p.32] defendants had in January of 1962 obtained a judgment for a substantial sum against Wabtraco for goods sold to it for which that company had not paid. The defendants caused the deputy sheriff to seize the two cars as part of the property of Wabtraco in execution of the judgment debt. A few days later the plaintiff interpleaded and the sale of the cars was stopped. The plaintiff subsequently filed his claim in June 1962. In court on 21 December 1962, the plaintiff showed his documents of title to the defendants who immediately agreed to release the cars from attachment. One of the cars was collected by the plaintiff or his agent on or about 24 December 1962 but the other was left with the defendants until about the middle of January of the following year when the plaintiff sent word that he wanted it sent by rail to him in Kumasi. That was done.

The plaintiff has now brought this action for loss damages for the wrongful seizure of the vehicles and the resultant loss arising out of his being deprived of them for the period starting from the time they were seized in May, till their release in or after December 1962. The substance of the defence is that the defendants made reasonable inquiries as to the ownership of the vehicles all of which led to the conclusion that Wabtraco and not the plaintiff was the owner of the cars before they seized them. Specifically, the defendants inquired from the Police Licensing Office about the ownership of the cars and were told that they belonged to Wabtraco. There is a statutory duty, under regulation 7 of the Road Traffic Regulations, 1957 (L.N. 135), placed upon a person who becomes the new owner of a vehicle to notify the licensing authorities of this fact within fourteen days. The object of the provision, no doubt, is to enable the licensing authorities to rectify their registers and thereby to keep an accurate and up to