NYAME vs. YEBOAH

KORSAH C.J. Korsah C.J. he delivered the judgment of the court. The plaintiff instituted this action in the Kwahu Local Court Grade "A", Nkwatia, claiming a declaration of title to, and ownership of, a cocoa farm and £G75 damages for trespass. The plaintiff's case may be briefly summarised thus: the plaintiff's brother Kwasi Kissi, deceased, had cleared a forest and made cocoa and food crop farms in the area when a larger area including the area of Kwasi Kissi's cultivation was declared a forest reserve under the Forests Ordinance1 whereby owners of farms and other cultivations within the area so declared were prohibited from entering and continuing their cultivations. Some time after this forest reserve was declared Kwasi Kissi died and the plaintiff became his successor. In the meantime the Forestry Department released Kwasi Kissi's area including the adjacent forest from the reserve thereby enabling the farmers in that area to continue their respective cultivations. It wa....