Appeal Court,
23rd May, 1940.
. Defendants-Respondent
Appeal against decision of
Provincial Commissioner
dismissing appeal from the
tribunal of a Paramount
Chief-claim damages for
trespass-better title to
possession of the land all, by
the Defendants-Appeal
allowed.
Head: Although the claim is in
trespass the real issue is one
of title, is' title to be
proved.
(2) As there had been
substantial misdirection with
regard to several on the part of
the original tribunal, the case
to be sent back for re-hearing
de
with direction from this Court
as to those points.
There is no need to set out the
facts.
Bossman
for Appellant. Benjamin
for Respondents.
The following joint judgment was
delivered :KINGDON, C.J.,
NIGERIA, PETRIDES, C,.J., GOLD
COAST AND GRAHAM PAUL, C.].,
SIERRA .LEONE.
This is an appeal by the
Plaintiff against the judgment
of Provincial Commissioner's
Court which upheld the judgment
given by the the Tribunal of the
Paramount Chief of the Ga State
The judgment of the Provincial
Commissioner's Court dismissing
the appeal which the Plaintiff
had taken against the Ga
Tribunal judgment but,
unfortunately, the judgment of
the Provencal Commissioner's
Court did not deal with any of
the lengthy argument adduced
before it except in the
following words: "I have b
unable to find any clear proof
that the judgment of the
Tribunal below should be
disturbed." This Court
therefore, in considering the
present appeal, must at once
consider the judgment of the
Tribunal in the light of the
grounds of appeal filed and
arguments adduced in this Court.
In their judgment the Ga
Tribunal expressly relied upon t
documents, Exhibits " B ", "C ",
and " F ", and the broad in
contention of the Appellant's
Counsel is that the Tribunal
serious and materially
misdirected itself in regard to
each one of the: documents; that
if it had not so misdirected
itself it would might have
arrived at a different judgment
in favour of Appellant; and that
the, case should be sent back to
the Ga Tribunal for re-hearing
with adequate directions as to
the correct mean and effect of
the documents in question.
The Plaintiff-Appellant claimed
damages for trespass by the
Respondents on his land. The
Appellant's case 'Was that he
acquired the land in question by
purchase from one Isaac Cobblah
Fiscian, Head of the Aruna
Family, in 1920 at a price of
£100 ; that he received an
Indenture of Conveyance of the
land and entered 'and into
possession. It is perhaps
unfortunate that he did not put
in Graham evidence this
conveyance but, of course, his
action being in trespass, was
based on possession and not on
title, and that may be the
reason why the Plaintiff did not
produce his title deed.
The original Defendant in the
suit was one Ammah. Later it
appears that the 2nd Respondent,
Yawa Aruna, was added before.
the trial began. The record of
appeal does not disclose exactly
when or how she was added as a
Defendant.
The position of each Respondent
is quite different. That of the
first Respondent may be
considered first. He purchased
certain land from Isaac Cobblah
Fiscian. The land he purchased
was a portion of what Fiscian
had previously sold to the
Appellant, but at Fiscian's
request the Appellant had agreed
to Fiscian selling this portion
on condition that Fiscian later
replaced it with another
portion. Fiscian granted a
conveyance to the 1st Respondent
and told him he must get it
executed by the Appellant as
'Well. The first Respondent
approached the Appellant who
agreed on] receipt of 10s. to
execute the conveyance and he
did so.
The Appellant's case is that he
later found the first Respondent
putting cement blocks on a
portion of land not included in
the portion sold. He spoke about
it to the first Respondent who
at first promised to remove the
blocks but afterwards claimed to
have got a conveyance of the
land from someone else and
refused to remove the' blocks.
The Appellant thereupon brought
this action against the first
Respondent, and the second
Respondent was afterwards joined
as the person who had granted
the coiweyance of the land in
question to the first
Respondent.
There appears to be no dispute
that the land in question
originally belonged to the late
Aruna, or that at the time the
Appellant bought it (in 1920) it
formed part of Aruna Family
land. The Respondents do not
appear to dispute the facts that
the Appellant did buy the land
from Fiscian in 1920 ; that he
did take possession of it ; or
that they interfered with that
possession. Their case is that
they had a better title to
possession than the Appellant
and were, for that reason,
entitled to do what they liked
on the land. It was .in these
circumstances for the
Respondents to prove their.
superior title and the real
issue in the case was whether
they had done so.
The main part of the case for
the Respondents is that the
conveyance by Fiscian to the
Appellant was of no effect as
Fiscian had no right or power to
sell and convey Arona Family
land. The Tribunal upheld that
contention and based their
judgment in the main upon what
they considered to be the
meaning and effect of three
documents, Exhibits "B", "C",
and "F". These ma be considered
in their order :--
Exhibit" R " is a very curious,
stupid, and possibly a rather
suspicious document. It purports
to be signed by some twenty
people calling themselves,
"Children, Grandchildren and
Descendants d Aruna·'. It is
more than doubtful if a single
on of them was actually a
descendant of Aruna. This
curiously and inexplicably ex
post facto document is dated
3rd February, 1934) and it
contains a number of resolutions
supposed to have bee~ passed at
a family gathering in 1931,
which are as follows :-
"1. That we do hereby declare
and state that Madam Yawah
Arunah of Accra being the
present head of the family is
forthwith appointed Trustee of
all Brazilian properties
belonging to the Aruna Family,
in Accra and District, from the
23rd day of July, 1930, till her
death when this power now
conferred on her shall cease to
be in force.
"2. That she is hereby fully
empowered to administer and do
all lawful acts and deeds in
respect of the said properties
till her death.
"3. That from the 23rd day of
July, 1930, Mr. J. E. Maslino is
remove absolutely from his
position as Caretaker of the
said properties.
"4. That all acts and deeds done
and made since the 23rd day of
July, 1930, on or before by the
said J. E. Maslino or by any
other person 0 persons besides
the said Madam Yawah Arunah in
respect of the said properties
without the knowledge,
concurrence and agreement of us
the said Arunah Family is hereby
declared null and void".
In their judgment the Tribunal
say in regard to Exhibi '
B" :_
" Howbeit witness Fiscian could
not challenge the validity of
the paper signed by the members
of the family appointing
co-defendant as Head of Family".
It is certainly a serious and
material misdirection to say
that Exhibit "B" appointed
co-defendant as Head of Family.
An~ of course, if it did, it
could not affect transactions or
status of Head9 of Family, or of
people acting as such, before
its date. It therefor, could
have no bearing whatever on the
validity or otherwise of in
document executed in 1920-14
years before its date.
Exhibit " C " is a judgment of
the Divisional Court of 11th!
July, 1931, in a suit brought by
I. C. Fiscian against the second
Respondent. In regard to that
judgment the Tribunal say:-
" This is a matter between
members of the same family and
it was for Fiscian and
co-defendant to fight for their
respective positions in the
said, family with regard as to
who is the right person to
inherit the properties in'
dispute. And this has already
been adjudged by the High Court
declaring the co-defendant (Yawa
Aruna as the right and proper
person to inherit the properties
of Nii Aruna in her capacity as
Head of the Family of the said
Nii Aruna ".
This was a reference to Exhibit"
C ". That is to say the Tribunal
directed itself that Exhibit" C
" constituted res judicata
as between Fiscian and the
second Respondent and therefore
between Appellant and second
Respondent as regards status in
the family and therefore, as
regards title to this land in
question.
Apart altogether from the
fact-and the legal consequences
of the fact-that Exhibit" C " is
a judgment 11 years later in
date than the conveyance by
Fissian to Appellant, it is
clear that the Tribunal
misdirected itself as to Exhibit
"C". Exhibit" C " expressly did
not decide the question as to
headships of Aruna Family even
at its date. The Judge in that
case held that the property in
question was the private
property· of the second
Respondent and not family
property, and added:-
" That being the conclusion at
which I have arrived it is not
necessary for me to deal with
the question whether or not the
plaintiff (i.e. the present
Appellant) is the head of the
Fatuma-Aruna Family".
The Tribunal misdirected itself
in regarding Exhibit .. C " as
res judicata
in the question before it in the
present case.
Exhibit" F" is a judgment in a
suit
Johnson and Another v. Johnson,
which is referred to in the
judgment of the Tribunal " as
proving that she (2nd
Respondent) being the domestic
maid-servant of Nii Aruna is the
right person to inherit the
property in dispute."
It is clear that the Tribunal
misdirected itself in holding
that Exhibit" F" (which though
put in as an exhibit was really
only quoted as an authority)
established that the second
Respondent as a domestic
maid-servant of Nii AnuJa was
the right person to inherit the
property in dispute. Exhibit" F
" was a judgment in an
administration suit in regard to
property of a deceased person.
In that case it was admitted
that there were no blood
relatives and a slave was
therefore found entitled to
inherit.
Here there were surviving at the
material time-i.e. the date of
the conveyance in 1920-and at
the date of the trial, blood
relatives of Aruna. That is not
in dispute. Isaac Cobblah
Fiscian is alive and so is
Joseph Edward Maslino and they
are both blood relatives, great
grandson and grandson
respectively, of Aruna. The sale
and conveyance by Fiscian to
Appellant were known to Joseph
Edward Maslino at the time or
soon after.
Moreover, Exhibit" F " was a
judgment in a Cape Coast case
where the native law of
succession differs from the Ga
law of succession. It is Ga law
of succession which applies to
the present case. The Tribunal
never considered the question
whether a judgment based on the
Cape Coast law of succession
governed this question under the
Ga law of succession. The
Tribunal appeared to consider
that Exhibit " F " being a
judgment of the Supreme Court
bound them, and the Tribunal
acted accordingly, not
considering and deciding the
question with their own minds
and their own knowledge of Ga
customary law, but accepting the
Supreme Court judgment as
binding. This was wrong and goes
to the root of the judgment of
the Tribunal.
The Tribunal appear to have lost
sight of the importance
of
Exhibit" G " which is a copy of
proceedings regarding Government
acquisition of Aruna land. In
those proceedings the second
Respondent claimed as against
Issac Cobblah Fiscian the
compensation due for Arona
Family land, She claimed,
according to her evidence, as
Head of the Family and called as
her witnessth Senior Asafoiatse
of Gbese, Accra, to give
evidence in support her claim,.
as an expert witness on Ga
custom. His evidence so and so
definite and so destructive of
the claim which the Defendant
put: forward then-the same
claim as she puts forward now
she had to withdraw her
claim.
It is clear that a fresh and
careful enquiry by the Ga
Tribunal is necessary into the
material facts of this case, and
the Ga native law as applicable
to these facts and the second
Respondent's , of title.
The proper course appears· to be
to send the case back to the. Ga
Mantse's Tribunal to be re-heard
de novo
with definite direction~ that
Exhibit "C" is not
res judicata
in this case: that Exhibit: " F"
does not preclude the Tribunal
from considering the fact£ of
this -case as proved before them
and applying thereto the G laws
of succession: and that Exhibit
"B" did not appoint the second
Respondent as Head of the Family
as at its date or at any: other
date. It is also necessary to
point out, in view of the
apparent opinion of the Tribunal
to the' contrary, that it was
not, and is not; necessary for
the Plaintiff to join, as
Co-Plaintiff with him, lsaa,
Cobblah Fiscian.
It is now obvious that although
the claim is in trespass, an
therefore based on the
Plaintift's possession, the real
issue between the parties is one
of title, and at the re-hearing
the Plaintiff's conveyance
should be put . in evidence.
Also there should be some
enquiry as to what was done with
the £100 received by Fiscian
from the Plaintiff. Was it
applied to Aruna Family purposes
or did Fiscian treat it as his
own money?· The questions
whether. there was passive
acquiescence by the family m
Fiscian dealiI18 with this
family property as he did in
1920, and for a long time
thereafter, and, if so, what
effect that acquiescence would
have under Ga customary law on
the rights of strangers buying
in good faith from Fiscian, also
require to be considered.
The appeal is accordingly
allowed and the judgments of the
Ga Mantse's Tribunal (including
the order as to costs) and of
the Provincial Commissioner's
Court (including the order as to
costs) are set aside. The case
is sent back for re-hearing
de novo
by the Ga Mantse's Tribunal in
the light of this Court's
rulings as to Exhibits " B ",
"C",
and " F" and the directions
given in the last two preceding
paragraphs of this judgment. It
is further ordered that any sums
paid by the Appellant to the
Respondents by way of costs
whether in the Ga Mantse's
Tribunal or in the Provincial
Commissioner's Court shall be
refunded. The Appellant is
awarded costs in this Court
assessed at £34 12s. and in the
Provincial Commissioner's Court
to be taxed. The costs hitherto
incurred in the Ga Mantse's
Tribunal are to abide the
ultimate issue and be in the
discretion of that Tribunal.