[1959]DLCA2002 • November 26, 1959 • Court of Appeal
COLEMAN vs. SHANG
The deceased, Stephen Coleman, an Osu man, died intestate leaving multiple families: three children by his first customary law wife Adeline Johnson, five children (only the plaintiff surviving) by his second wife Wilhelmina under the Marriage Ordinance, and ten children by the defendant Shang, with whom he cohabited during Wilhelmina's lifetime and later married under customary law after Wilhelmina's death. The plaintiff, sole surviving child of the Ordinance marriage, applied for letters of administration. The defendant, claiming to be a lawful customary law widow and representing the deceased's family, opposed the grant. The dispute centered on entitlement to letters and distribution of the estate.
read moreVan Lare J. A. delivered the judgment of the Court: This is a judgment of the Court in the preparation of which we all participated. The proceedings in this case commenced with an application filed by the plaintiff in the Divisional Court under Order 60 rule 1 of the Supreme Court (Civil Procedure) Rules for grant of letters of administration in respect of the estate of his father, the late Stephen Coleman of Christiansborg, who died intestate on the 1st of April, 1958. Against the plaintiff’s application two persons, one a paternal half-sister and the other a paternal half-brother, entered a joint caveat. After the procedure laid down in Rules 18 and 20 had been complied with, the plaintiff issued a writ of summons against the two caveators, in pursuance of an order of the Court made in that behalf as provided by Rule 21 (2). After pleadings had closed, the plaintiff on the 6th of January 1958 filed under Order 30 rule 1 a summons for directions, and had it fixed for hearing on the .....