ANING vs. KINGFUL [1979]DLHC1031

Date	1979-07-04
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1979]DLHC1031

AMUAH AG.J.

E. OKYERE-DARKO FOR THE PLAINTIFF.

THE DEFENDANT IN PERSON.

[1979]DLHC1031
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >ANING <o:p></o:p>vs. <o:p></o:p>KINGFUL<o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT, KOFORIDUA]<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;[1980] GLR 404<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:
4 JULY 1979<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">

E. OKYERE-DARKO FOR THE 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">

AMUAH AG.J.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF AMUAH AG. J.<o:p></o:p>The
plaintiff claims against the defendant the sum of ¢10,000 as damages for breach
of promise of marriage. In her statement of claim she averred that the
defendant in November 1970 approached her father and her family at Bomfa
Ashanti and applied to them for consent to marry her under custom. The family
agreed. He presented a Bible and a ring to her and she was formally engaged
with the consent of her family. Both mutually agreed to have a “church
wedding.” Thereafter they lived as husband and wife for nearly six and a half
years in anticipation of the marriage ceremony. During this period he was not
gainfully employed and she had to feed and maintain him. However, in March
1976, when he secured employment, he left her premises without a just reason
and has since refused to marry her under the Marriage Ordinance, Cap 127 (1951
Rev.). He has set up a home with a woman by name Mary Akosua Yeboah and there
has been a birth of a child by her to him.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
defendant in his statement of defence averred that he actually married her by
performing the necessary customary rites to her father. He went on in paragraph
(3):<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)
After the customary marriage the defendant and the plaintiff agreed to
formalise their marriage in the future by a church wedding if and when the
defendant’s financial position would allow, as is the practice among many
Ghanaians and hence the presentation of the Bible and ring.”<o:p></o:p>He
averred that he lived together with her in the same house provided by her from
1970 to March 1976 when he decided to move and stay in his rented quarters as
“it was customarily improper for a man to live in a wife’s house.” He had no
intention of breaking off the marriage and the engagement, and a visit from her
was welcome. He averred that from June 1973 when he secured employment he has
been maintaining her. He denied that since he left her he had been living
together with a woman by name Mary Akosua Yeboah. He maintained that she is
still his wife and that he is willing to receive her into his arms provided she
returns to him.<o:p></o:p>The main
issue which was set down for trial was whether he was in breach of his promise
to marry her. An action of this nature where the parties are already married
under customary law is not against public policy: see Appiah alias Acheampong
v. Acheampong, High Court, Accra, 27 November 1967, unreported; digested in
(1968) C.C. 24.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>At the
trial the plaintiff deposed that in 1970 he promised in the presence of
witnesses to marry her within three months in a church. Up to the present
moment he has not fulfilled his promise. He did not visit her when she was sick
and is now living with another woman. At an arbitration held he stated that he
would not marry her. He has stopped maintaining her since 1977. She further
explained that even if his financial position (as he stated) had not improved,
she would not have been aggrieved if he were living in the same house with her
and had not taken to another woman. She denied that she took the ring from his
portmanteau.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
defendant on the other hand deposed that he is a liaison officer to one Sam B.
Donkor, a building contractor. He engaged and married the plaintiff under
custom in 1970. They there lived together as husband and wife until April 1976
when there was a misunderstanding between them because he found himself
flirting with another woman. She would not take it lightly and issued this
present writ against him even though at an arbitration he was asked to pacify
her and had done so. He said that since then he has been maintaining her. In
December 1978 she told him that he should not step in her house because she was
married and that if he dared visit her she would wound him.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>