QUARSHIE vs. ARYEETEY [1959]DLHC2038

Date	1959-02-06
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1959]DLHC2038

OLLENNU J.

AMOO LAMPTEY FOR PLAINTIFF.

OKAI FOR DEFENDANT.

[1959]DLHC2038
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" ><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;mso-fareast-font-family:Times;
mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#548DD4;mso-themecolor:text2;mso-themetint:
153">QUARSHIE<o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;mso-fareast-font-family:Times;
mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#548DD4;mso-themecolor:text2;mso-themetint:
153">&nbsp;vs. <o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;mso-fareast-font-family:Times;
mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#548DD4;mso-themecolor:text2;mso-themetint:
153">ARYEETEY<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;[HIGH COURT (LANDS DIVISION), ACCRA]<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[1959] GLR 60<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

DATE:
6TH FEBRUARY, 1959.<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

AMOO
LAMPTEY FOR PLAINTIFF.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

OLLENNU J.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF OLLENNU J<o:p></o:p>(His
lordship stated the history of the case, and proceeded):—<o:p></o:p>During
the course of his evidence-in-chief the defendant said, inter alia:<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">“The
house was allotted by Government in 1942, and my brother Robert died in 1949.
It was my late brother Robert Aryee Aryeetey to whom the house was allocated in
1942. But as I have already said, Robert said our younger brother Kwashie, who
was occupying the house, should pay the rents or instalments on the house.
During my brother’s lifetime all were paid in his name and all receipt for such
payments were given in his name. My said brother Aryee was the owner of the
house at the date of his death in 1949. After my brother’s death I got the
Department of Housing to substitute my name for his as the owner.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>After
that admission by the defendant, there is no necessity to go farther into the
question of Robert Aryee Aryeetey’s ownership.<o:p></o:p>Remains
the question of native custom as to succession. The question is, who takes
precedence in succession to the property of a deceased - his mother, or his
brother? I asked Counsel for the defence to give me authority for his
proposition that the brother is preferred to the mother. He confessed he could
find none. I am not at all surprised that Counsel could not produce a single
authority, for as far as I am aware, all the authorities are to the contrary.
This house (the self-acquired property of Robert Aryee Aryeetey) became family
property according to custom upon his death intestate, and it should be in the
possession and control of the head of the family. The parties being Accra
people, the family is the maternal family.<o:p></o:p>I had
occasion to deal with the question of succession in a judgment I delivered on
the 4th March, 1958, in a suit entitled Mills v. Addy (No. 123/1957). In that
judgment I considered all the available judicial decisions and commentaries on
the subject, and in consequence I made certain pronouncements. I came to the
conclusions<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">(1) that
every woman who has children becomes the originator of a family, consisting of
herself and her direct descendants,<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">(2) that
in Accra and the Akan States the head of that family is that woman so long as
she lives, and<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">(3) that
she is also the proper successor to any of her children who may predecease her.<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">That
judgment has not been appealed, and nothing has been urged to make me alter the
conclusions I reached in the case as to the custom of succession. I am,
therefore, bound to hold in the instant case that plaintiff is the head of her
family, and at the same time is the successor to her son the late Robert Aryee
Aryeetey.<o</main>