2021
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Supreme Court of Ghana, per Dotse JSC, dismissed the appeal brought by Solomon Tackie and Ago Bannerman-Thompson, heads of the Tackie and Bannerman-Thompson families, challenging a unanimous Court of Appeal judgment that upheld the High Court’s dismissal of their claims to Maria House at Kojo Thompson Road, Accra. Plaintiffs asserted ownership via the Will and vesting assent of their predecessor, Samuel Quao Sackey, and sought to set aside District Court judgments for fraud and to recover possession and rents from the Nettey family. The Court rebuked plaintiffs’ appellate strategy for departing from pleaded grounds without leave and, on rehearing, found Maria House was not devised in the Wills of James Hanson Sackey or Samuel Quao Sackey. The Court held that ownership lay with the 1st Defendant’s Nettey family through a valid Ga Samansiw by Afua Sackey to her sister Abla, corroborated by long possession and leasing history. It rejected reliance on a 1986/87 CDR “arbitration” as non-binding and found no proof of fraud, affirming the Court of Appeal.
PROLOGUE
DOTSE, JSC:-
What looked like an ordinary appeal where the intermediate Court of Appeal concurred in the findings of the trial High Court and which should have led to an evaluation of the grounds of appeal argued in the statements of case of the parties soon evaporated into thin air. This came about after deep and sober reflection on the unprecedented style of the manner in which learned counsel for the plaintiffs presented his arguments in support of the appeal. This style of presentation was considered to be an assault on, and a violent breach of, the settled rules of procedure of this court and the lower courts as well. This phenomenon therefore necessitated a thorough and comprehensive analysis of our opinion in this judgment.
The facts of this case admit of some controversies, and it might be very useful to set them out from the perspectives of the plaintiffs and the 1st Defendant. Thereafter, it will be necessary to refer to the various overt acts of ownership of the parties in relation to the properties in dispute.
Finally, it is of utmost necessity to consider the customary law rules of intestate succession as are applicable to the families in contention; as well as rules of interpretation of what constitutes a valid Will; what is customary law Will, (Samansiw); what properties a Testator can include in his Will; and what probate of a Will can vest in the Executors of the Will and subsequently in the beneficiaries thereof.
THE APPEAL
This is an appeal by the Plaintiffs/Appellants/Appellants hereafter referred to as the Plaintiffs (who described themselves as joint representatives of the Hanson-Sackey and Bannerman-Thompson families), against the judgment of the Court of Appeal dated 24th July, 2019, in which the properties in dispute were adjudged to belong to the 1st Defendant/Respondent/Respondent hereafter referred to as the 1st Defendant representing the Nettey family who trace their root of title to their grandparents Afua Sackey and Abla Sackey respectively.
It must immediately be apparent that, the plaintiffs have lost twice in this legal contest. The learned trial High Court Judge, on the 20th day of December 2017 dismissed the Plaintiffs claims, their appeal to the Court of Appeal was also similarly dismissed, hence this appeal to the Supreme Court.
FACTS OF THIS CASE
The uncontroverted facts of this appeal are that, the properties in dispute were originally owned by one Afua Sackey who had siblings of the full blood name