[1961]DLHC640 • May 1, 1961 • High Court
ASARE vs. ANTWI
The plaintiff mortgaged four cocoa farms to the Cocoa Purchasing Company to secure a loan of £G500. Upon default, the farms were sold. The plaintiff authorized the defendant as his attorney to redeem the farms by paying off the debt. The defendant redeemed the farms and possessed them, using proceeds to repay the loan. The plaintiff sought an account of the proceeds to pay any balance and reclaim the farms. The defendant denied acting on plaintiff's instructions, claiming he redeemed the farms with his own money for himself and was not accountable to the plaintiff.
read moreJUDGMENT OF DJABANOR J. By his writ of summons filed in the local court at Offinso, the plaintiff claimed from the defendant: “a tangible reason why he is not liable to account to plaintiff for two years’ proceeds of four cocoa farms which defendant was appointed by the plaintiff as his attorney to act on behalf of the plaintiff to pay a debt of £G70 which was incurred by plaintiff’s brother Yaw Frimpong”. This clearly is a claim for accounts, and by the rules, the local court has no jurisdiction to try it. But it is the contention of counsel for the defendant-appellant that in view of the defence pleaded, the action assumed the character of a dispute as to title to the four farms, and that that issue could properly be tried by the local court under section 98 (1) (a) of the Courts Act, 1960.1(1) The facts of the case are that the plaintiff about two or three years ago mortgaged his four farms to the Cocoa Purchasing Company to secure a loan to him of £G50...