NANA ASUMADU II (DECEASED) AND NANA DANYI QUARM IV (DECEASED) vs. AGYA AMEYAW

The original plaintiffs, Nana Asumadu II and Nana Danyi Quarm IV, sued Agya Ameyaw claiming ownership and control over Diaso village lands and rivers. The original plaintiffs died and were substituted by appellants. The defendant had earlier sued the original plaintiff and obtained judgment in his favor due to the plaintiff's failure to appear and contest. The appellants sought to set aside that judgment alleging it was obtained by fraud and misrepresentation, and claimed the same reliefs over the land. The High Court set aside the earlier judgment on grounds of fraud, but the Court of Appeal reversed that decision. The appellants appealed to the Supreme Court, challenging the Court of Appeal's decision as against the weight of evidence.

This appeal hangs on a very thin legal thread. The issue involved is so narrow that it should not have attracted the copious submissions made by both counsel for the appellants and the respondent in their over eighty (80) page statements of case filed on 15/05/2018 and 23/07/2018 respectively. Perhaps, the parties were lured into charting this course because of the manner in which the Court of Appeal dealt with the appeal before it. It is trite learning that an appeal is by way of re-hearing. The rules of the Court of Appeal, 1997 [C.I. 19] are very clear on this. Rule 8 (1) of the said rules provides as follows: “An appeal to the Court shall be by way of re-hearing and shall be brought by a notice of appeal”. This principle that an appeal is by way of re-hearing applies mutatis mutandis to this Court in the exercise of its appellate function as it does to the Court of Appeal. There are numerous authoritative judicial decisions of this Court on this as expressed in cases like AKU...