DAVIES vs. RANDALL AND ANOTHER

The plaintiff sued as heir and successor to the late L. T. C. Davies and on behalf of the other children of the deceased, challenging a 1953 conveyance by the deceased’s widow and administratrix, Fanny Margaret Davies, to the first defendant, and a subsequent lease by the first defendant to BP West Africa Ltd. The land in dispute was freehold land at Sekondi originally purchased by the deceased in 1919. The plaintiff contended that under the applicable law of succession he and the other children were entitled to the estate, that the administratrix had no lawful power to alienate the land without proper authority, and that the defendants trespassed and demolished buildings on the land to erect a filling station. Portion of judgment: opening paragraphs setting out the writ and statement of claim, especially paragraphs 1–7 of the statement of claim reproduced by the court.

JUDGMENT OF KORANTENG-ADDOW J. The plaintiff brought this action in his capacity as heir and successor to the late L. T. C. Davies and as representing the other children of the said Davies, claiming: (i) a declaration that the deed of sale executed on 19 January 1953 between the first defendant and the administratrix, Fanny Margaret Davies, and also the subsequent lease executed between the first and second defendants are null and void; and (ii) £G1,500 as damages suffered as a result of the defendant’s trespass on the said land and the demolition of the buildings thereon. He elaborated on this claim by statement of claim filed with his writ on 24 February 1961 and which I quote in extenso hereunder: “(1) On or about 16 September 1919, the late L.T.C. Davies bought all that piece or parcel of land situate at Sekondi, bounded on the north by a street running between it and on open space near the Lagoon Asamansu, on the south by Poasi Road, on the east by land running between it a...