CONCA ENGINEERING (GHANA) LTD. vs. MOSES

The dispute concerned a plot of land at Mamobi, Accra. The respondent/plaintiff claimed title through a 20 January 1955 document (exhibit A) issued by one Adokwei Saka, described as an 'accredited caretaker of Mamobi lands', acknowledging receipt of £45 as 'customary rum' for a plot measuring about 100 feet by 100 feet. The document had no site plan and described boundaries only by adjoining owners. The appellants/defendants, particularly the second appellant, traced title through a registered chain of conveyances from the admitted allodial owner, the Osu stool: from the Osu stool to Abudulai Kotokoli by deed dated 17 March 1960, from Kotokoli to Hamidu by deed dated 10 March 1976, and from Hamidu to the second appellant by deed dated 5 August 1981. Each deed was stamped, registered, and accompanied by a site plan. The respondent sued for declaration of title, damages for trespass, recovery of possession, and injunction after the second appellant deposited gravel on the land and used it for parking vehicles. Portion indicating this in the judgment: opening narrative from 'In the northeast of Accra lies a suburban building land...' through the discussion of exhibit A and the institution of the action on '5 June 1984'.

JUDGMENT OF APALOO C.J. In the north-east of Accra lies a suburban building land. It is called Mamobi. The title to that land is vested in the Osu stool. It is the occupant of that stool acting with the consent and concurrence of the stool elders that can make a valid alienation of any portion of that land. On 17 March 1960 that stool by a deed, conveyed a portion of the land approximately 85 feet by 90 feet to a man named Abudulai Kotokoli in consideration of the payment by him of the sum of twelve guineas. To the deed was attached a site plan which more or less identified the land. By a law passed in 1962, the grant could not be accorded legal effect until it was registered. It is the Land Registry Act, 1962 (Act 122). In apparent compliance with section 24 of that legislation, Kotokoli registered the deed in 1968. The estate sought to be conveyed to him was described in the recital as “an absolute grant and conveyance” but by the words of the habendum, he was “To ha...