ATTRAAH vs. ABOAAH

JUDGMENT OF APALOO J. This is an appeal from the judgment of a circuit court which on the 11th April, 1963, dismissed a claim by the plaintiff against the defendant for damage suffered by the former as a result of the destruction by fire of the plaintiff’s cocoa farm. There is not a great deal of controversy about the facts and I state them briefly. The plaintiff and the defendant own farms contiguous to each other at a place called Witreso at Odumasi, Ashanti-Akim. The preponderance of the evidence is that both were cocoa farms. Some time in September 1961, the defendant set fire to his own farm. This fire was spread by the force of a strong wind and caused damage to the plaintiff’s farm. It is agreed by the witnesses that it was exceptionally dry weather and dry winds were blowing from Agogo towards Konongo Odumase. The plaintiff accordingly claimed that the defendant was negligent in setting fire to his own farm in those circumstances and in failing to prevent its spr...