AGYARE vs. DOTWA [1960]DLSC15

Date	1960-12-23
Suit No.	-
Citation No.	[1960]DLSC15

KORSAH JSC

C J GRANVILLE SHARP JSC

AKIWUMI JSC

AKUFO-ADDO FOR APPELLANT;

PREMPEH FOR DEFENDANT.

[1960]DLSC15
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >AGYARE <o:p></o:p>vs. <o:p></o:p>DOTWA<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;[SUPREME
COURT]<o:p></o:p>[1960] GLR 253<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

DATE:
23RD DECEMBER, 1960.<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">

AKUFO-ADDO FOR APPELLANT;<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">

KORSAH, C.J. GRANVILLE SHARP AND AKIWUMI,
JJ.S.C.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF KORSAH C.J.<o:p></o:p>Korsah
C.J. delivered the judgment of the court. This is an appeal from the judgment
of Murphy, J. in a suit, in which the plaintiff who claims to be the nephew and
successor of Kwame Agyin, deceased, applied for letters of administration to
administer the estate of Kwame Agyin. The defendant who claims to be the head
of the family to which the plaintiff belongs, and of which the deceased was a
member, entered a caveat. The three main grounds upon which the caveat is based
are:<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">(a) That he, defendant, being the
head of the family and the plaintiff a member thereof, the plaintiff could not
be appointed a successor to the deceased while the defendant is alive.<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">(b) That in fact plaintiff had
been appointed by the said family to be only caretaker of the deceased estate,
and not successor to Kwame Agyin.<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">(c) That he is a brother of the
deceased while plaintiff is a nephew, that a nephew cannot succeed while a
brother of the deceased is alive.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Both
parties attached genealogical trees of the family to affidavits filed in
support of their respective claims, and these exhibits have materially assisted
the court in assessing the value of the evidence and the shades of
interpretation of the English words “brother” and “nephew” as used by the
parties both in their affidavits and in the course of the proceedings.<o:p></o:p>It is
observed from the genealogical trees which agree in material particulars that
both plaintiff and defendant have a common ancestress Adjoa Beh who apparently
had four daughters and a son or sons, but for all practical purposes the
descendants of the sons are not regarded as members of the family because, the
parties being Ashantis the matrilineal system is the method by which membership
of a family is traced. By this method, descendants of Adjoa Beh are divided
into four lines of descent from each of the four daughters. Plaintiff is of the
second line, defendant is of the third line and the deceased is of the fourth
line. It will therefore be seen that the expression “nephew” and “brother” used
by the parties have not the ordinary meaning in English but they are used in
the sense in which members of the same family belonging to different lines of
descent, may call themselves brothers, sisters or nephews in a local sense.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Sarbah’s
Fanti Customary Laws (2nd ed.) p. 102 contains a list of persons in the line of
succession and goes on to state:<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">“There
are therefore four kinds of successors, viz. Real, Proper, Ordinary and
Extraordinary.<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 Real
successor of a person is his mother.<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">We call
those persons Proper successors who are the uterine brothers and sisters of the
deceased, and the issue of such sisters; but never can the pedigree be traced
out in the line of the male. “Ordinary successors are such persons as are
descended from the maternal grandmother.”<o:p></o:p>