MRS DIANA BENISA (DECD) v. AMY ADED NYLANDER
2021
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- HENRY KWOFIE, JA (Presiding)
- G. S. SUURBAAREH, JA
- E. KYEI-BAFFOUR, JA
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Civil Procedure
- Evidence Law
2021
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Ghana Court of Appeal, per G. S. Suurbaareh JA, with Henry Kwofie JA (Presiding) and E. Kyei-Baffour JA concurring, affirmed a High Court (Land Division, Accra) judgment in a longstanding Labadi land dispute. The respondent traced title through a 1944 grant by Nii Onano V to Robert Benjamin Wuta-Ofei, a 1946 transfer to her father, Ebenezer Kabu Ocansey (No. 585/1946), a 1949 Abafam Quarter regularization, and a 1958 grant to her mother, Mercy Charity Ocansey (No. 2416/1958), coupled with decades of uninterrupted possession, registration and a Ghana Commercial Bank mortgage. The appellants asserted a 1977 grant by Nii Adotei Ado Aku and long possession, claiming the auto mechanics were caretakers. The Court held identity was not in issue, the Abafam Quarter had divested title by 1949 and could not regrant in 1977, and regularization could be inferred. The attempted capacity challenge under the omnibus ground failed; as beneficiaries, the respondent could sue without letters of administration. The trial court’s dismissal of a non-existent counterclaim was harmless; the appeal was dismissed.
SUURBAAREH, JA
This is an appeal from the judgment of the High Court, Land Division, Accra, dated 24th October 2018, in which the trial Court had entered a judgment for the Plaintiff/Respondent, in respect of a piece of land that was in dispute between the parties.
The defendants/appellants, not satisfied with the judgment, have mounted the instant appeal on four grounds of appeal, as per their Notice of Appeal, at page 343 of the record of appeal, as no additional grounds were filed, despite a proviso to file additional grounds upon receipt of the record of appeal.
The grounds of appeal are the following:
“a) The judgment is against the weight of the evidence on record.
b) The trial judge erred in fact and in law in holding that the land claimed by the plaintiff is substantially the same as the defendants(sic) land.
c) The trial judge erred in fact and in law in holding that the Plaintiff’s father had regularized his title to the land in dispute in 1949 without any supporting evidence.
d) The trial judge erred in law by dismissing a non-existent counterclaim”.
The appellants, from their notice of appeal, are dissatisfied with the whole judgment and are seeking the indulgence of this Court to set same aside or reverse it, and enter judgment in their favour.
The facts giving rise to the dispute resulting in this appeal are not in much dispute. Henceforth, the parties would be referred to as appellants and respondent simpliciter.
From the pleadings, the disputed land, which measures 0.37 acres, forms part of a larger piece of land, originally granted by Nii Onano V, Chief of Labadi, to one Robert Benjamin Wuta-Ofei, in 1944 and registered as No. 330/1944 with the Deeds Registry. The respondent’s pleadings show that Robert Benjamin Wuta Ofei in turn sold his interest in the land to her father, Ebenezer Kabu Ocansey in 1946, who registered it as No. 585/1946 and thereafter went into possession and erected buildings on portions thereof.
The respondent’s pleadings also show that her late father, in 1949, obtained a grant of the same land, from Abafam Quarter of Labadi, for valuable consideration, and thereafter occupied and dealt with it without any interference whatsoever until his death in 1995. According to the respondent, it was part of this larger piece of land that the father granted to her mother, Mercy Charity Ocansey, in 1958, which was duly registered as No. 2416/1958. The respondent pleaded further that following the death of her mother, sh