[1981]DLCA18019 • April 14, 1981 • Court of Appeal
RAMIA vs. RAMIA
The appellant, a foreigner residing in Ghana, converted from Christianity to Islam in 1958 to marry the respondent. They had a customary union followed by a marriage under the Marriage of Mohammedans Ordinance, registered on 25 April 1958. During the marriage, the appellant purchased several properties in the respondent's name, including a five-storey building known as 'Ramia House'. The appellant claimed he retained beneficial ownership, while the respondent asserted the properties were outright gifts to her and their children. The marriage deteriorated, leading to this dispute over ownership of the properties.
read moreJUDGMENT JUDGMENT OF FRANCOIS J.A. The appellant is a foreigner resident in Ghana. In April 1958 he abandoned his Christian faith to embrace the Moslem religion. This was the price he had to pay to win his wife, the respondent. The marriage was celebrated in accordance with the Marriage of Mohammedans Ordinance, Cap. 129 (1951 Rev.), and registered on 25 April 1958. There had before then been three early years of cohabitation under the umbrella of a customary union. This brief account of the marital history of the parties assumes some significance later in this judgment and it is recapitulated to dispose of a submission that the parties were not legally married. It is enough, however, to say for the present, that the parties admit these facts in their pleadings and in their testimony in the court below. Turning again to the facts, long before this action was brought, the period of conjugal bliss had run its course. A number of incidents which are not relevant to a decision in...