[2004]DLSC6418 • November 24, 2004 • Supreme Court •
MEMUNA AMOUDY vs. MR. KOFI ANTWI
The plaintiffs, heirs of Mandi Delali, claimed ownership of land near Obetsebi Lamptey Circle in Accra, which had been compulsorily acquired by the government for a cemetery in 1938. The plaintiffs alleged adverse possession of the land post-acquisition and granted the defendant a license to build stores on part of the land. The defendant later denied the plaintiffs' title after discovering the land was government property and refused to fulfill agreed terms, prompting the plaintiffs to seek ejectment on grounds of forfeiture of license due to denial of title.
read moreATUGUBA, J.S.C. I have had the advantage of reading the judgment of my learned Sister Wood JSC and I agree with her conclusion that the appeal be dismissed. Mr. Ahenkorah, counsel for the appellants, (hereafter called the plaintiffs), has vigorously contended that the plaintiffs' case was a simple action for ejectment by his clients as licensors against their licensee, the respondent (hereafter called the defendant); and that as the evidence clearly establishes the facts of the license, the defendant is estopped under section 28 of the Evidence Decree, 1975 (NRCD 323), from denying his licensor's title. I should have thought that before any presumption as to the right of possession of the disputed land is raised in favour of the plaintiffs as licensors (as provided in section 28 of NRCD 323), the basic facts upon which the presumption is to operate must be established. In this case the acts extending to create the relationship of licensor and licensee must first be established sin...