SYKES vs. ABBEY

JUDGMENT OF AIKINS JSC. The plaintiff and the defendant in this case were married under customary law in 1960. They lived together happily as man and wife for some 27 years until the marriage broke down in 1987. In the early stages of the marriage (to be precise two years after the marriage ceremony) the plaintiff, desirous of owning a house gave cash the sum of £70 to the defendant to purchase for her a plot of land, which the husband did and informed her that the land was situate at Abeka, but when later she pressed for the documents on the land, the defendant told her that the land had been stolen by someone who quickly put up a house on it. As a result, the husband released one of his own three plots of land to her as a replacement, and told her to build on it while he pursued the preparation of the title deed in her name together with the building plans. The defendant’s version was slightly different. He denied ever giving the plaintiff any land in replacement of the one ...