[1974]DLCA2262 • March 8, 1974 • Court of Appeal
BINEY vs. BINEY
The case concerns the ownership and partition of family land known as "Bineyville" in James Town, Accra, originally conveyed by deed of settlement dated 12 March 1901 by the late Joseph Peter Oconnor Biney to his brothers and cousin as life tenants and thereafter to his four children as remaindermen. The plaintiff was the sole surviving remainderman. The land was later expanded by acquisition of adjoining land from the Sempe stool, integrated as family property. Disputes arose over ownership shares, partition, and rights to buildings erected on the additional land. The plaintiff sought declarations of ownership and partition, alleging family disputes and harassment by defendants, descendants of his late brother Hendrick.
read moreThe defendants-appellants appealed from only a part of the judgment of the Accra High Court dated 28 October 1965 and reported in [1965] G.L.R. 619, while the plaintiffs-respondents (who were substituted for the original plaintiff, now deceased) filed a notice of contention imploring that the said judgment should be varied. Since both parties have in the event cross-appealed from parts of the same judgment, I shall refer to them simply as the plaintiff and the defendants respectively. The main facts of the case are as follows: The late Joseph Peter Oconnor Biney, who died in 1910, was the father of the plaintiff and grandfather of the defendants. By a deed of settlement dated 12 March 1901 (exhibit A), he conveyed his freehold land with building thereon measuring 100 ft. by 100 ft. situated on the Korlena, James Town, Accra (now numbered D.540/1 Bruce Road and popularly known as “Bineyville”) to his two brothers and a cousin, namely, Joseph Cobblah Biney, Charles Biney and Adolp...