[1959]DLHC2011 • January 31, 1959 • High Court
ENNIN vs. PRAH
The case concerns the ownership and disposition of properties left by the late Kofi Nkum. The dispute arose over whether the properties belonged to the wider Twidan family or to Kofi Nkum's immediate matrilineal family group. The appellant contended that the immediate family, consisting of matrilineal descendants from the same womb, had the right to control and dispose of the properties, while the respondent argued for the wider family group's control. The properties were sold by Kwaku Nkuma, the successor and head of the immediate family group, with the concurrence of family members, though the respondent was unaware due to being abroad.
read more(His lordship set out the history of the matter, and proceeded):—It is clear that the trial-Court proceeded upon a complete misconception as to the identity of the family to which the properties belonged, and which could deal with them. The late Kofi Nkum’s properties could not devolve upon, and become vested in, the wider Twidan family of which he was a member in his life time. They devolved upon, and became vested in, his immediate family group. This consisted of all who were descended matrilineally from the same womb as himself-his surviving brothers (if any), his surviving sisters (if any), and the surviving children of his sisters, dead or alive (see the dictum of Deane C. J. in Larkai v. Amorkor & ors. (1 W.A.C.A. 323 at 330); and that of Strother- Stewart J. in Santeng per Ohimen v. Darkwa & anor. (6 W.A.C.A. 52 at 53)). In the proper and true conception of the native customary law of inheritance and/or succession, it is Kofi Nkum’s family (consisting of the matrilineal...