[1979]DLHC1031 • July 4, 1979 • High Court
ANING vs. KINGFUL
The plaintiff claimed damages of ¢10,000 for breach of promise of marriage. The defendant had approached the plaintiff's family in 1970 for customary marriage consent, presented a Bible and ring, and they agreed to a church wedding later. They lived together as husband and wife for over six years, during which the plaintiff supported the defendant financially. In 1976, after the defendant gained employment, he left the plaintiff and refused to marry her under the Marriage Ordinance, instead living with another woman and fathering a child with her.
read moreJUDGMENT OF AMUAH AG. J. The plaintiff claims against the defendant the sum of ¢10,000 as damages for breach of promise of marriage. In her statement of claim she averred that the defendant in November 1970 approached her father and her family at Bomfa Ashanti and applied to them for consent to marry her under custom. The family agreed. He presented a Bible and a ring to her and she was formally engaged with the consent of her family. Both mutually agreed to have a “church wedding.” Thereafter they lived as husband and wife for nearly six and a half years in anticipation of the marriage ceremony. During this period he was not gainfully employed and she had to feed and maintain him. However, in March 1976, when he secured employment, he left her premises without a just reason and has since refused to marry her under the Marriage Ordinance, Cap 127 (1951 Rev.). He has set up a home with a woman by name Mary Akosua Yeboah and there has been a birth of a child by her to him. ...