ADJEI vs. FORIWAA

The plaintiff, a wife in a customary marriage, commenced an action seeking, among other reliefs, a declaration that the customary marriage between herself and the defendant still subsisted, a declaration that House No. 6, Block L, Dichemso, Kumasi was the joint property and matrimonial home of the parties, maintenance for herself and the children, and an injunction restraining the defendant from ejecting her from the house. The defendant had separately commenced proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court seeking dissolution of the customary marriage, ejectment of the plaintiff from the matrimonial home, and an injunction restraining her from entering the house. After the plaintiff and her children had been ejected pursuant to the magistrate’s proceedings, the High Court later ordered their reinstatement pending determination of the suit. Subsequent cohabitation in the house became acrimonious, leading the defendant to apply for an order compelling the plaintiff and three of her daughters to undertake to be of good behaviour during the pendency of the action. Portion of judgment: “Hence this application by the defendant for an order exacting an undertaking from the plaintiff and three of her children... that they will refrain from continuing their wrongful acts of insulting and/or otherwise provoking the defendant and his wife and be of good behaviour during the pendency of this action.”