[1967]DLCA1499 • June 27, 1967 • Court of Appeal
GLIKSTEN (WEST AFRICA) LTD. vs. APPIAH
The appellants, Gliksten West Africa Ltd., obtained a timber concession over land including the respondent's cocoa farms. The concession was validated by court order in 1951. The respondent alleged that in 1959 the appellants caused extensive damage to his cocoa farms by felling timber and constructing roads without permission, seeking general and special damages for trespass and destruction of economic trees.
read moreJUDGMENT OF AMISSAH JA. Two simple points arise out of this appeal from the decision of Lassey J. (as he then was). The first is whether general damages can be awarded against a concessionaire and in favour of the holder of customary rights for acts done by the concessionaire in promotion of the objects of his concession. The second is whether the special damages awarded in this particular case were properly assessed. The appellants, Messrs. Gliksten (West Africa) Ltd., obtained a timber concession over an area which included the respondent’s cocoa farms. The concession was obtained in June 1947, and the court’s final order on it was made four years later in June 1951. The concession contained the usual clause for the protection of customary rights which includes farming. It is not clear whether the respondent’s farms were in existence at the time the concession was obtained. The vague references to time made in the course of the respondent’s case indicate that the farms we...