OSAE AND OTHERS vs. APENTENG

The main claim of the plaintiffs is an order for recovery of possession of nine farms each of which is sufficiently described on the schedule attached to the writ of summons. They claim in the capacity as successors of their fathers Kwaku Sae, Kwabena Datrabi and Yaw Botchwe, all deceased. There is no dispute that the properties the subject-matter of the suit were originally self-acquired properties of one or other of the three brothers, and that each brother having died intestate, his own self-acquired property became family property and was succeeded to by a surviving brother. By customary law the property of a person who succeeded to the property of another member of the family becomes merged in the family property. Therefore the estate of the last brother who succeeded to the joint estate of the two brothers who predeceased him, became merged in the family property, consequently the estate he died possessed of is not three separate estates, but one estate vested in one family. ...