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May 4, 1936
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
The following judgment was delivered :-
KINGDON, C.J., NIGERIA.
In this case the plaintiff took action in the Tribunal of the Paramount Chief of Gomoa Assin against the defendant. He succeeded, but the defendant appealed to the Court of the Provincial Commissioner of the Central Province, which allowed the appeal, and the plaintiff now appeals against that decision to this Court.
The case as it reached the Provincial Commissioner's Court is explained thus by the Provincial Commissioner in his judgment :-
The claim before the Tribunal as amended reads :-
" The plaintiff seeks Tribunal relief for defendant to assign reason for having trespassed by placing people on plaintiff's family land, i.e. to farm on the said land which land situating and lying at Gomoa Adzintem in the District of Winnebah and which land is bounded on the north by Budu's land on the south by Kwasi Taa's land on the east by Kwamin Mensa or Kojo Andorful's land and on the west by Kwa Adufrachi's land respectively.
"2. That plaintiff seeks further relief for the defendant to produce before this Tribunal all documents and papers if any, purported to have been signed marked or witnessed by plaintiff or his ancestor as deed of gift or otherwise to defendant or his ancestors relating to' APASEM ' land in dispute.
" It is difficult to understand the meaning to the second part of the claim, and this was ignored by the Tribunal in the judgment except in so far as the reference therein to APASEM land. which is stated to be the land in dispute. The land set out in the. first part of the claim is not the land in dispute but is presumably all the land claimed by plaintiff.
" Although the original action was one for trespass it is clear that both parties and the Tribunal regarded the case as one of a disputed boundary, since no evidence has been called as regards the alleged trespass, and the judgment of the Tribunal was as regards boundaries rather than as regards the alleged trespass.
"The Tribunal gave judgment for the plaintiff on the grounds that 'almost all the lands covering P ANFUKROM VILLAGE,' was given to Barima Panfu by 'Barima Odoom,' ancestor of Nana ' Essell Tawia, the plaintiff herein.'
" The Tribunal further went on to lay down as the boundary between the parties' the main street from Adzintem to Winneba passing through the middle of Panfukrom Village,' and further ordered that the land on the left (Le. the east) of this road should belong to plaintiff and that the chief o
AI Generated Summary
Kingdon, C.J., Nigeria, delivering the judgment of a panel that included Petrides, C.J., Gold Coast, and Webber, C.J., Sierra Leone, reviewed a land dispute originating in the Tribunal of the Paramount Chief of Gomoa Assin. Although pleaded as trespass, the parties and Tribunal treated the matter as a boundary case over land at Gomoa Adzintem and Panfukrom village, with evidence of a prior grant from Barima Odoom (ancestor of Nana Essell Tawia) to Barima Panfu. The Provincial Commissioner allowed the defendant’s appeal on weight-of-evidence. On further appeal, the Court rejected a jurisdictional challenge under paragraph 77(1) of the Native Administration Ordinance, holding that the Tribunal’s grant of leave sufficed and the Provincial Commissioner could set conditions. Citing Lord Atkin’s guidance in Abakah Nthah v. Anguah Bennieh, the Court emphasized deference to native tribunals. Ultimately, it declared both lower proceedings a nullity because some Tribunal members who gave judgment were not present throughout, set aside both judgments, ordered a retrial, and awarded the appellant costs.