YANKAH AND OTHERS vs. ADMINISTRATOR-GENERAL AND ANOTHER [1971]DLCA2176

Date	1971-07-12
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1971]DLCA2176

APALOO J.S.C.

JIAGGE JA

SOWAH J.A.

P. A. ADJETEY FOR THE APPELLANTS.

J. B. QUASHIE-IDUN FOR THE RESPONDENTS.

[1971]DLCA2176
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >YANKAH AND OTHERS<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;vs. <o:p></o:p>ADMINISTRATOR-GENERAL AND ANOTHER<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;[COURT OF APPEAL]<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;[1971] 2 GLR 186<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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DATE:
12 JULY 1971.<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;
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P. A. ADJETEY FOR THE APPELLANTS.<o:p></o:p>

J. B. QUASHIE-IDUN FOR THE RESPONDENTS.<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;
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APALOO J.S.C., JIAGGE AND SOWAH JJ.A.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGEMENT OF APALOO J.S.C.<o:p></o:p>Apaloo J.
S.C. delivered the judgement of the court. This appeal is from the judgment of
Charles Crabbe J. (as he then was) in which he declined to revoke the codicil
of the late J. T. N. Yankah who died at Accra on 7 September 1964.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
testator was a schoolmaster of acknowledged eminence. Some years before his
death, he took ill and was in and out of hospital by turns. The medical
evidence shows that he was suffering from a blood disease known as leukaemia.
It would seem that the testator had a premonition of his approaching end. He
accordingly decided to dispose of his property by will. Being a scholar and a
man of the world, he was not unknowledgeable about how to do this. He himself
put his wishes in writing and requested Mr. Caseley-Hayford to put it in legal
language.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
latter is a relation of his by marriage being a first cousin to Mrs. Yankah.
The evidence also shows that Mr. Caseley-Hayford was on terms of great intimacy
with the testator and his wife. He and Mr. Yankah called each other by the
amiable pet name “Cos.” Mr. Caseley-Hayford duly put the testator’s written
wishes in legal form and this will was executed on 28 January 1963 (exhibit A).
There is no dispute of any sort about the will.<o:p></o:p>Judging
by the dispositions in that will, the late Mr. Yankah could not be said to be
possessed of considerable fortune, but he was far from being a poor man. He had
two, two-storeyed houses and a piece of land at Accra. It seems that he
acquired these by his own exertions. He also inherited his mother’s house at
Cape Coast. He left a modest sum of money at the bank. The evidence shows that
the testator had by his wife seven boys and an only daughter. All these survived
him as well as his wife who died just about two-and-half months after the
testator. Mr. Yankah was also survived by a brother, a cousin and probably a
few remote relatives. Of the two houses owned by the testator, he devised the
newer one to his wife for life and thereafter jointly to all his grandchildren
by her. He devised his other house to his brother for life and after his death
to his only daughter and her children. He devised the vacant land to his
daughter. The only bequest Mr. Yankah left in his will which benefits his male
children were, to quote the will, “clothes, my few books, my illuminated
addresses and copies of memoranda and articles I published in the press.” This
gift was made jointly to all his children and this will include his only
daughter. The testator appears to have had a special fondness for his daughter
Hagar and showed a definite inclination to confer on her benefits over, and
above all his male children. Being the only daughter of the marriage, it is
perhaps not unnatural that she should be the main object of her father’s
bounty.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>On 6
September 1964, Mr. Yankah executed a codicil to the will. As he did before, he
again wrote his wishes in his own hand and handed them to Mr. Caseley-Hayford.
Most of the writing is barely legible and it is obvious that he was nearing his
end. The circumstances in which he actually executed his codicil is the subject
of debate but to this we will return later.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>In that
codicil, the testator altered the disposition which he made in his original
will in respect of the new two-storeyed house. Instead of the gift over after
his wife</main>