BONSU vs. FORSON

JUDGMENT OF OLLENNU J.S.C. We dismissed the appeal in this case on 8 January 1964 reserving our reasons for so doing; we now proceed to give the reasons. By his writ of summons the plaintiff claimed £G15,000 and an order for injunction restraining the defendant from speaking and publishing defamatory words against him. The writ itself disclosed no cause of action; but this defect, however, was cured by the statement of claim which was filed together with the writ of summons. The plaintiff was at all material times a legal practitioner and a member of Parliament for the Sekyere West electoral district; he occupied a flat in house No. AA8, Kwame Nkrumah Road, Kumasi, as a tenant of the defendant. He and the defendant had been friends for a number of years prior to the incident which led to the action; and from letters he wrote to the defendant while a student in the United Kingdom, which were admitted in evidence, it is clear that the plaintiff had, in the past, regarded the defe....