KUMNIPAH II vs. AYIREBI AND OTHERS

The appellant, as customary successor of Nana Kojo Fori and representative of the Jadamwa stool, sued multiple farmers for trespass on stool land in the High Court, Kumasi. The High Court dismissed the claim in 1963. The appellant appealed to the Supreme Court, which reversed the decision in 1966, granting relief to the appellant. Subsequently, after the Supreme Court was abolished and replaced by the Court of Appeal under N.L.C.D. 84 in 1966, the respondents applied for a review before the full bench of the Court of Appeal, which in 1969 purported to set aside the Supreme Court judgment and restore the High Court decision. The appellant challenged the jurisdiction of the full bench to review the Supreme Court decision, leading to protracted litigation including a motion in 1982 to set aside the full bench ruling as null and void.

I have had the opportunity of reading the judgment of my brothers and have agreed with them that the appeal be allowed. However, I wish to say a few words as I am concerned in finding the basis of the assumption of jurisdiction by the full bench of the Court of Appeal in 1969. The appeal has had a long and chequered history; the cause of it was the purported interference by the full bench of the Court of Appeal on 30 July 1969, nearly two years after the Supreme Court under the Republican Constitution, 1960 had delivered judgment in the case. It must be recalled that when the action was initiated in the High Court, Kumasi the superior courts of Ghana derived their creation from the Republican Constitution, 1960. Article 41 (2) of the said Constitution provided for the establishment of the Supreme Court and a High Court which were the superior courts of Ghana. Article 42 (1) further provided that the Supreme Court was the final Court of Appeal, and the court was given such appell...