TEKYI ALAIS MENSAH vs. ACKON AND ANOTHER [1979]DLHC1118

Date	1979-11-26
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1979]DLHC1118

OSEI-HWERE J.

A. H. SACKEYFIO FOR THE PLAINTIFF.

E. M. AMPONSAH-DADZIE FOR THE DEFENDANT.

T. B. BRODIE-MENDS FOR THE CO-DEFENDANT.

[1979]DLHC1118
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >TEKYI ALAIS MENSAH <o:p></o:p>vs. <o:p></o:p>ACKON AND ANOTHER<o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT, CAPE COAST] <o:p></o:p>[1978] GLR 779<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:
26 NOVEMBER 1979<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>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">

A. H. SACKEYFIO FOR THE PLAINTIFF.<o:p></o:p>

E. M. AMPONSAH-DADZIE FOR THE DEFENDANT.<o:p></o:p>

T. B. BRODIE-MENDS FOR THE CO-DEFENDANT.<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 1.0pt 0in">

OSEI-HWERE J.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF OSEI-HWERE J.<o:p></o:p>The
indorsement on the plaintiff’s writ of summons reads:<o:p></o:p>“The
plaintiff’s claim is for specific performance of an agreement between the
parties for the sale of land by the defendant to the plaintiff; which said land
is situate lying and being at Nbabae Nkanfoa on the south-west of Cape Coast
and bounded on the north-west by Abura Abiradze family land, on the south-east
by government town boundary line, on the north-east by Twedenfo family land and
on the south-west by J. E. Amanquandoh and Kwesi Christian lands, and
comprising of 34.98 acres. The plaintiff has fully paid for the said land in
the sum of ¢200 plus trama (earnest money of C10) and he is in active
possession and has been in possession since 1951, but the defendant is refusing
to execute the relevant deed of conveyance wherefore the plaintiff seeks an
order of specific performance.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
plaintiff’s case, in the witness-box, was quite simple. According to him he
came to Cape Coast on leave on 31 December 1950 and upon what his mother told
him he approached the first defendant and bought from her a piece of land which
was sold to him for £100 together with £5 as trama. He agreed with the
defendant to pay the purchase price by monthly instalments of £3. Exhibits A to
X are some of the receipts which covered the payments he made to the defendant.
After the land had been sold to him, the defendant gave him a will which
disclosed her root of title and which she took back to show to another vendor.
It was also the plaintiff’s case that in 1973 the defendant gave him a document
in which she had stated that she had sold the land to him. This document was
tendered as exhibit Y. In 1976 the plaintiff took exhibit Z (the deed of
conveyance which the plaintiff had drawn up) to the defendant to execute and
her failure to do so triggered off this action which seeks to compel her
execute the document.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
defendant testified that the land which the plaintiff claims to have purchased
from her is a portion of a larger tract of land which descended on her mother,
Ekua Etsiwa, by reason of the will which was tendered as exhibit 1. On the
death of the defendant’s mother she succeeded her and she thus came to be in
possession of the land. According to the defendant, her mother and the
plaintiff’s mother were intimate friends and she permitted the plaintiff’s
mother to cultivate food crops on a portion of the land and that the
plaintiff’s mother used to give her 1 pound or 15s. out of the sale of the
crops. The plaintiff was later introduced to her by his mother but she never
gave him any land.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>It was
her case that this land is family land and that she has no right to sell the
land. On how she came to thumbprint exhibit Y, the defendant explained that the
plaintiff brought her to a place near the Zion Church where she met a man
writing down something. After the man had concluded his writing she was asked
to thumbprint the document and the plaintiff himself held her thumb to impress
it on the document. They assured her that they would explain why she had been
asked to thumbprint the document but that explanation never came. Thereafter,
the plaintiff brought her back home in a car. All this happened when none of
her children was around. The co-defendant claims to be the head of the first
defendant’s family and he joined the suit to protect the family’s interest in
the land.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>In
exhibit 1 the defendant’s mother was</main>