pg 86
Appeal Court, 7th June,
1941. Appeal from Court of
Chief Commissioner exercising
Appellate Jurisdiction.
Declaration of title in .Asantehene's
Native Court "A" Persons
deputed to view land with
parties and 'report-Plaintiff
failed to prove his case but as
it had some substance land in
question divided between parties
by Court
" A "Appeal to Court
of Chief Commissioner-Appellant
requested that judgment be set
aside and case sent back for
re-trial Plaintiff failed to
put his case fully before Native
Court-Defendant neither
appealed nor asked West African
Court of .Appeal to exercise its
powers unDer Rule 31 of
its ,.Rule.
Held: Appeal dismissed.
There is no need to set out the
facts.
C. F. H. Benjamin
for Appellant.
K. A. Korsah
for Respondent.
The following judgments were
delivered:-
BRAHAM PAUL, C.L, RIERR.A LEONE.
This suit began in the
Asantehene's Native Court " A"
in which the appellant sued the
respondent claiming a
declaration of title to certain
land in Assachere described in
the Writ of Summons. After
hearing the evidence of the
parties the Native Court in
accordance with the usual
practice deputed certain persons
to view the disputed lands with
the parties and to submit
u rt'port. The deputation duly
visited the land with the
parties a nd submitted a report
which both parties accepted as
correct. ()n the evidence of the
parties and the report of its
deputation the Native Court gave
judgment the important part of
which is :\s follows:-
" There are certain points in
favour of either side. In " yiew
of this fad, the Court feels
that the only way by " whil'lI
justice and equity could bl~ met
in the case is to
Ohene of Assachere v. Ohene of
Dadiase
" divide the land between the
two stools. The Court there"
fore sets the following
boundaries between them and
orders " that each party should
bear his own costs."
81
Ohene of Assachere
v.
t>hene of Dadiase.
The boundaries so set out by the
Native Court had the effect of G
ah dividing the disputed land
into two parts, the larger part
going to
P:ul, C\ the respondent.
From that judgment the'
appellant appealed to the Court
of the Chief Commissioner where
further evidence was led in the
course of which two validated
executive decisions were put in
evidence by the appellant. It
will be necessary later to refer
to these two decisions. The
Chief Commissioner's Court
dismissed the appellant's appeal
and confirmed the judgment of
the Native Court.
It may be mentioned that the
respondent also appealed to the
Court of the Chief Commissioner
but only on the question of
costs. His appeal was dismissed
by the Chief Commissioner'"
Court and it is of no further
consequence.
From the judgment of the Chief
Commissioner's Court the
appellant has appealed to this
Court. The only grounds of
appeal with whieh I find it
lIecessary to deal are Ground
(1)
(d)
and Grounds 2, 3, 4, [) and
tL Ground 1 (b) is in
substance included under Ground
2.
Ground 1
(d)
is "Error in Law. That Exhibits
'I' and , .J' are binding on
Dadiasihene."
These two exhibitli were
Validated Executive Decisions
whieh in my opinion are under
section 3 (1) of Chapter 120
given the effect of judgments
in rem
except ony as against the Crown.
They are therefore " binding on
Dadiasihene " and in my opinion
the Chief Commissioner's Court
was wrong in holding as it did
that Exhibits "I" and "J " were
not binding on Dadiasi
as he was not a
party to those cases. But the
appellant in my opinion failed
to establish that these
Validated Decisions referred to
the land in dispute as he was
bound to do if he wished to
found upon them in this case. N
either in the Native Court, nor
to the inspecting messengers did
the appellant suggest that these
decisions related to the land in
dispute. N either he nor any of
his witnesses even mentioned
them until the case came on
appeal to the Chief
Commissioner's Court. It appears
from the indications iu the
exhibits that they do not in
fact relate to the land now in
dispute or any part of it, but
even if it were by the
plaintiff's evidence left only
uncertain whether they related
to the land in dispute they
could not be treated as binding
on Dadiasi in this suit so that
for another reason than that
given by the Commissioner he was
right in finding that these
exhibits were not binding on
Dadiasi
1'n th1·.~ SU1:t.
88
Ohene of Assachere
v.
Ohene of • Dadiase.
Graham Paul, C.].
Ohene of A.ssachere v. Ohene of
Dadiase
It will be convenient to deal
with Grounds 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
together. They are as follows:-
2.
Judgment against the weight of
evidence.
(a)
A comparison of the evidence of
the representative of
Dadiasihene with Exhibit " B"
pages 60-63 and also with the
evidence on oath of the
representative of Dadiasihene at
the Kokofu Native Court shows
that the defendant's story is
not worthy of credence.
(b)
The plaintiff has all along been
consistent with the history of
his ownership of the lands
claimed.
3.
Because both the Asantehene's
Court "A" and the Court of the
Chief Commissioner, Ashanti,
were wrong in not deciding the
title to the disputed lands.
4.
Because the Asantehene's Court
"A" and the Court of the Chief
Commissioner, Ashanti, did not
direct theii' minds to the
question of original title.
5.
Because title being in the
plaintiff-appellant, judgment
ought to have been given in his
favour.
6.
Because the judgment of both the
Asantehene's Court "A" and the
Court of the Chief Commissioner
of Ashanti were arbitrary and
therefore wrong in law.
Now it is my view that the
Native Court" A " and the Court
of the Chief Commissioner did "
decide the title to the disputed
lands." The Native Court" A "
with a claim for a declaration
of title before it, and nothing
else, divided the land between
the appellant and respondent. It
is quite clear from their
judgment that in so doing they
intended to give, and in effect
did give, the plaintiff a
declaration of title to the land
claimed but only up to the
dividing line which they fixed.
It was bound to be, and, in
effect, isa dividing line
between owners. In my view the
Native Court with a claim by a
plaintiff for a declaration of
title to a certain piece of land
was entitled, if the evidence
justified it, to give the.
plaintiff a declaration of title
as regards the land claimed only
up to a certain line and dismiss
the claim as regards the balance
of the land claimed. That is the
f.orm which their judgment would
have taken according to English
rules of practice which would
not justify a Court in giving a
declaration of title to a
defendant who had not
counter-claimed for it. Instead
of giving a declaration of title
to the plaintiff up to a certain
line and dismissing the claim as
regards the balance the Native
Court has laid down a boundary
between the parties. Their view
apparently was that the proved
occupation and acts of ownership
by the defendant's people on the
other side of the line were
inconsistent with the plaintiff
being the titular owner of the
land there. They had therefore
to refuse his declaration of
title as regards that part so
they considered that
inter partes
the dividing line should be
definitely fixed between the two
people as the boundary between
owners. That is nota judgment
in rem
but only
'inter partes,
and the difference between it
and the judgment which
Ohene of Assachere
v.
Ohene of Dadiase
|
Ohene of :4$.wchere v.()hcne of
Dadia:s-e
under English practice would
have been pr<wer is not in my
opinion sufficient to justify
this ('ourt in interIering with
such, a .common sense judgment.
It would of course have been
quite different if either party
on appeal had satisfied this
Coutt thatrupon the evidence'the
dividing ¥rtc J line had to his
prejudice been wrongly placed.
The Dadiasi people _ au, .. haye
accepted tha~ line though it
gives them less than they
considered they were entitled
to. The Assachere people have
appealed to this Court but they
have failed to show this) Court
that
~n the evidence the Native Court
was wrong i~ not giving them
more of the land in dispute. It
is more than doubtful whether
the Native Court was justified
in giving the Assachere people
as
much 'as they did. At the close
of i;he hearing before this
Court
the appellant's counsel did not
seriously contend that this
-Court
would be justified on the
evidence in altering the Native
Court's judgment so as to give
his clients more land. His
suggestion was
that the Native Court's
jv.dgment should be set aside
and the case
sent back for re-trial by the
Native Co~rt with a proper plan
and-
for further evidence to be given
by his client as to Exhibits" I
"
and "J." I consider that the
Native Court made a very full
investigation into the case and
gave each party ample
opportunity
to put before it any evidence
which they considered advisable.
If the-plaintiff, 'without any
adequate reason given, failed to
take
the opportunity given to him to
put his case fully before the
Native
COllrt, that does not, in my
opinion, justify this Court in
causing
a very busy Native Court to do
all their work over again about
a litigation which according to
the Chief Commissioner has been
going on for twelve years.
I c<:msider that it is a matter
for congratulatiqn that a final
decision has at last been given
in this lengthy litigation, and
the appella,nt has in my opinion
failed to show any reason why
this Court should give him
another opportunity to re-open
it.
In my opinion the appeal should
be dismissed.
KINGDON, C.J., NIGERIA.
It seems to me clear from the
passage in' the judgment of the
Asantehene's Court" A " which
has been quoted by my learned
brother that that Court found
that the plaintiff had failed to
prove his case. That being so
the Court should, in my opinion,
have dismissed the plaintiff's
claim. Instead of doing that the
Court divided the land between
the parties fixing an arbitrary
boundary. In the result the
plaintiff got what amounts to a
declaration of title
inter partes
to part of the land, a
declaration to which he was not
entitled since he had tried but
failed to prove his right to it,
whilst the defendant got what
amounted to a declaration of
tit~e
inter partes
to the other part of the land, a
declaration for which he had not
asked, and to which he also had
not proved his right.
89
':
I
ff
II
, I
Ii
'I
I,
, I
II
I,
90
Ohcnc of Assachere
v.
Ohenc of Dadiase
Kingdon, C.].
Ohene of Assachere 'v. Ohene
uf1Jadia.~e
But since the defendant has
neither appealed nor asked this
Court to exercise in his favour
the powers conferred upon it by
Rule 31 of its rules, there is
no need to alter the judgment of
the Asantehene's Court" A " in
his favour. And since to
substitute for the judgment
given the judgment which I have
indicated above should, in my
view, have been given would
result in the plaintiff being
worse off than he is, and have
the further disadvantage of
leaving a long standing dispute
still unsettled, I agree that
the judgment of the Asantehene's
Court "A", con£rmed by the Qhief
Commissioner of Ashanti, should
be upheld and the appeal
dismissed.
PETRIDES, C.J., GOLD COAS'l'.
I have had the advantage of
reading the judgments just
delivered.
I think it is quite clear,
looking at the evidence as a
whole anrl listening to the
arguments of appellant's
counsel, that the evidence was
not such as would have justified
Asantehene's Native Court " A"
in holding that appellant has
discharged the onus of proof of
ownership entitling him to the
declaration sought.
Native Court" A " apparently
appreciated that difficulty and
refrained from granting the
appellant a declaration of title
to the whole land. 'l'hey
however granted him a
declaration as to part. In my
opinion they were wrong in doing
so but as there has been no
cross-appeal that part of the
judgment need not be varied by
this Court.
It must be borne in mind that
Court" A " is a Native Court and
its members have not the same
power of expressing themselves
accurately as a trained lawyer.
It seems to me that the Court
meant to convey that the
plaintiff had not made out a
case for a declaration of title
to the land claimed but that he
had established some good points
and that justice and equity
would be satisfied by granting
him a rleclaration of title to
that part awarded to him.
I agree that the appeal should
be dismissed.
ORDER
The appeal is dismissed with
costs assessell at .£5~ l;3s.
!ld.
|