SEDORME vs. DODOR [1985]DLCA1002

Date	1985-07-15
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1985]DLCA1002

APALOO C.J.

MENSA BOISON JA

ABBAN J.A.

S. A. X. TSEGAH FOR THE APPELLANTS.

AKUAKU FOR THE RESPONDENTS.

[1985]DLCA1002
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" ><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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SEDORME <o:p></o:p>

{COURT OF APPEAL, ACCRA} <o:p></o:p>

[1984-86] 2 GLR 79<o:p></o:p>

DATE:
15 JULY 1985<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">

S.
A. X. TSEGAH FOR THE APPELLANTS.<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 C.J., MENSA BOISON AND ABBAN JJ.A.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF APALOO C.J.<o:p></o:p>The facts
of this case are in the main, not in dispute. A man called Gborbidzi founded a
piece of farmland at a place called Dzita in the Anlo District. He seems to
have farmed on it. He died intestate and this land devolved, according to
customary law, on his children. He was survived by two male children by name
Azametsi and Aforve. Upon Gborbidzi’s death, this land was partitioned,
apparently, in equal shares, to his two children. The portion relevant to this
case, is Aforve’s. The evidence suggests that Aforve entered into his portion
and engaged in acts of husbandry on it until his demise. Like his father before
him, he also died intestate. Aforve was married to two women. They were Dorvlo
and Abuya. Dorvlo gave Aforve two children, a daughter Wormeshie and a son
Bume. Abuya appeared to be the more fertile of the two. She begat three sons
and two daughters. The sons were Doe, Dotse and Dodor.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
daughters were Dayome and Dadealor. Upon Aforve’s death, his portion of the
land was partitioned among his four sons only, namely Bume, Doe, Dotse and
Dodor. The daughters were excluded from the division. The evidence suggests
that the partition to the sons was also in equal shares. The result of this
division was that Dorvlo’s only son Bume received a quarter of the land. Her rival’s
sons received three-quarters of the aliquot part of Aforve’s land. The parties
in dispute in this suit are the lineal descendants of Wormeshie, Bume’s sister,
and the other three male children, namely Doe, Dotse and Dodor.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>It is
common ground that Bume died without an issue. Had he been survived by a child
or children, there would be no question that they would succeed to their
father’s one-fourth portion of the entire Aforve land. Bume did not, in fact,
die a known death. He was apparently a gong gong beater. He went on one
occasion to perform this function and was never seen again. So he was presumed
dead and funeral obsequies were performed for him on that basis.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
question that arose on Bume’s death intestate and without issue was, who was to
succeed to his portion of the partitioned land? The person closest to him on
the ground of consanguinity was his elder sister Wormeshie. The evidence is
that she, with the full knowledge of Aforve’s other children, entered into the
inheritance of her brother. She occupied and enjoyed this land. As she was the
sole beneficiary of her brother’s estate, she was asked to provide funds to
finance his funeral. She was not particularly well-off financially so she
pledged a portion of the land to raise the money. According to the evidence,
when Wormeshie was of advanced age and could not physically work on her portion
of the land, she gave it to the first respondent to work on so they could share
the proceeds in a proportion not precisely disclosed in the evidence.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
evidence further shows that the first respondent requested his maternal aunt
Wormeshie to redeem the portion of the land she pledged to Abuya. Wormeshie was
agreeable to this but as she had no funds of her own to do this, she asked the
first respondent to redeem the pledge on her account. The first respondent did
so with the sum of fourteen cedis (¢14). The upshot of this was that the first
respondent became possessed of the whole of Wormeshie’s land, namely the part
not in pledge and the part redeemed from the pledgee Abuya. On Wormeshie’s
death, the appellants who were her lineal descendants requested the first
respondent to relinquish possession of Wormeshie’s land which he had been
cultivating to them. He readily surrendered the unpledged portion to them but
retained possession of the portion he redeemed on Wormeshie’s behalf. At that
time, there were growing crops on it. He promised to return this to the
appellants after harvesting the crops. After harvesting the crops, the
appellants repeated their request for the surrender of that plot. The first
respondent then denied that he was in possession of their grandmother’s pledged
land. In despera</main>