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JUDGMENT
OWUSU ANSAH, J.A.:
This is an appeal from the Judgment of the High Court, Cape Coast, delivered on the 16th June, 2000.
The Plaintiff/Respondent ("Respondents") issued a Writ of Summons against the Defendants/Appellants (hereinafter referred to simply as the "Appellants") claiming the following reliefs.
(a) A declaration that the Ordinance Marriage celebrated between the 1st and 2nd Defendants on the 13th March, 1998 is unlawful, null and void and of no effect in the light of the existing customary marriage subsisting between the Plaintiff and 1st Defendant which has not been dissolved.
(b) An order setting aside the Ordinance Marriage between the Defendants.
(c) A declaration that the 1st Defendant's conduct in contracting an Ordinance Marriage whilst a customary marriage subsists between him and the Plaintiff constitutes bigamy.
(d) An order compelling the 1st Defendant to restore the conjugal rights of the Plaintiff.
It is not disputed that the Plaintiff and the 1st Defendant contracted a Customary marriage about 30 years prior to the institution of the Proceedings. They had seven children; five of whom survived.
According to the Plaintiff, the 1st Defendant introduced the 2nd Defendant to her as the wife of his friend who had travelled abroad. Plaintiff subsequently got to know (and this was confirmed by a search Exhibit 1) that the 1st Defendant had married the 2nd Defendant under the Ordinance at the offices of the Cape Coast Municipal Assembly, in spite of the subsistence of the Customary marriage between her and the 1st Defendant. The 1st Defendant admits being married to the Plaintiff in or about 1973 and has five children with her.
The case for the 1st Defendant, however, is that the said customary marriage was dissolved sometime in 1988 as a result of a misunderstanding over the loss of ¢1.75 million which eventually 1st Defendant said was ¢2.75 million meant for his petroleum business.
It is thus admitted that the 1st Defendant purported to marry the 2nd Defendant under the ordinance on the 13th March, 1998.
The learned High Court judge Cape Coast found in favour of the Plaintiff on the 16th June, 2000 and concluded that "the customary marriage between John Hector Ansah and Ruth Arthur is still valid and subsisting" and declared that "the ordinance marriage contracted between John Hector Ansah 1st Defendant and Naomi Owusu the 2nd Defendant on the 13th March 1998 is illegal, null and void and is set aside."
The court order