MENSAH vs. ESAH

JUDGMENT OF FRANCOIS J.A. This is an appeal from the judgment of the high Court, Sekondi. The facts can be stated briefly. By an amended writ, the plaintiff sought the enforcement of an arbitration award which declared in his favour, title to nine farms belonging to one Yareyeya, deceased. The plaintiff averred that he as the nearest kinsman was the rightful successor of the late Yareyeya, who through an unfortunate turn of fate had sojourned for most of his 63 years with the defendant’s family at Bankromisa in Bibiani having lost touch with his own family. The plaintiff denied that the long stay of the deceased with the defendant’s family indicated any relationship, blood, adopted or otherwise, between Yareyeya and the defendant. He maintained that towards the end of his life, Yareyeya had been re-united with his lost family and had recognised the plaintiff as the son of his sister, Ackah Manti, and his natural heir and successor. These facts, according to the plaintiff, wer...