Appeal from Native
Tribunal to Magistrate's Court
constituted by District
Commissioner, from latter to
Divisional Court, and
Appeal
from latter to Appeal
Court-Preliminary Objection by
Respondent that no appeal lay in
first instance to Magistrate' s
Divisional Court.
Held: Appeal dismissed on such
preliminary objection.
The history of the case is
sufficiently set out ill the
judgment.
J.
H. Coussey
(with him
A.
O.
Larbi)
for Appellant.
K. A. Bossman
(with him
W. B. Van Lare)
for Respondent.
The following joint ruling was
delivered:-
KINGDON, C.J., NIGERIA, YATES
AND STROTHERSTEWART, JJ.
In this case the tribunal of the
Omanhene of New Juaben gave
judgment for the defendant. The
plaintiff appealed to the
Magistrate's Court constituted
by the District Commissioner
under section 79 of the Native
Administration (Colony)
Ordinance (Cap. 76). That Court
allowed the appeal and ordered
judgment to be for the plaintiff
with costs. The defendant
appealed under section 85 of
that Ordinance to the Divisional
Court which allowed the appeal,
set aside the judgment of the
Magistrate and restored that of
the native tribunal. From that
judgment the plaintiff now
appeals to this Court under the
provisions of section 4 of the
'West African Court of Appeal
Ordinance (Cap. 5).
The respondent has taken the
preliminary objection that the
appeal does not lie because the
term" Magistrate" in that
section has the meaning given to
it in the Courts Ordinance which
does not include a Magistrate
constituting a Magistrate's
Court which could not be
constituted by a District
Magistrate.
A similar preliminary objection
was taken yesterday before this
Court (constituted in the
same manner as it is to-day) in
the case of
Asiedu v. Nuamah,
and was overruled, but the
grounds now put forward were not
suggested to the
Court then and were not argued.
If they had
been, the decision
would have been different
because we are now satisfied
that we must uphold the
objection.
