DR. ERIC GRAHAM AND CARMIN ABA AMONUA GRAHAM vs. MRS. VIVIAN AKU BROWN-DANQUAH AND 3 OTHERS [2022]DLSC11696

DR. ERIC GRAHAM AND CARMIN ABA AMONUA GRAHAM vs. MRS. VIVIAN AKU BROWN-DANQUAH A... [2022]DLSC11696

Date	2022-06-15
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEAL NO. J4/20/2020
Citation No.	[2022]DLSC11696

DOTSE JSC (PRESIDING)

PWAMANG JSC

HONYENUGA JSC

PROF. MENSA-BONSU (MRS.) JSC

KULENDI JSC

ESQ. FOR THE PLAINTIFFS/APPELLANTS/RESPONDENTS.

ESQ. FOR THE DEFENDANTS/RESPONDENTS/APPELLANTS.

[2022]DLSC11696
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >DR. ERIC GRAHAM AND CARMIN ABA
AMONUA GRAHAM&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; (PLAINTIFFS/APPELLANTS/RESPONDENTS)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>MRS. VIVIAN AKU BROWN-DANQUAH AND 3
OTHERS<o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANTS/RESPONDENTS/APPELLANTS)<o:p></o:p>[SUPREME COURT, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:
.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto;text-align:center;line-height:115%;border:none;
mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">CIVIL APPEAL NO. J4/20/2020&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;DATE: 15TH JUNE, 2022<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL<o:p></o:p>ESQ.&nbsp; FOR THE
PLAINTIFFS/APPELLANTS/RESPONDENTS.<o:p></o:p><div style="border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;text-align:justify;line-height:115%;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">ESQ.&nbsp; FOR
THE DEFENDANTS/RESPONDENTS/APPELLANTS.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>DOTSE JSC
(PRESIDING), PWAMANG JSC, HONYENUGA JSC, PROF. MENSA-BONSU (MRS.) JSC, KULENDI
JSC <o:p></o:p><div style="border-top-width: 1.5pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-left: none; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-right: none; padding: 1pt 0cm;">

<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:center;line-height:115%;border:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>&nbsp;DOTSE JSC: -<o:p></o:p>The central theme of the appeal by the
Defendants/Respondents/Appellants, hereafter simply referred to as the
Defendants, against the Court of Appeal (majority) judgment dated 31st
January 2019 is the effect of the root
of title of the Plaintiffs/Appellants/Respondents, hereafter, Plaintiffs whose
title had been anchored on the will of their predecessor Bergina Briandt
tendered and marked in these proceedings as Exhibit B. Indeed the second ground
of appeal formulated by the Defendants reads as follows:-<o:p></o:p>“The majority with all due respect erred when they
held that the Will of Plaintiff’s great grandmother is the proof of root of
title provided by the Plaintiffs in respect of the disputed land.”<o:p></o:p>As a result we deem it quite expedient to go back
to the basic principles upon which Wills are written and executed to offer us
some understanding about the dispositions in Exhibit B concerning the land in
dispute.<o:p></o:p>Prof. W. C. Ekow Daniels, writing in his
invaluable book “The Law on Family Relations
in Ghana” page 434 offered the following definition and history of Wills
when he stated thus:-<o:p></o:p>(b)”Definition: Blackstone defines a “Will
as the legal declaration of a man’s intention, which he wills to be performed after
his death. According to Maine,“A Will or testament is an instrument by
which the devolution of inheritance is prescribed.”A more comprehensive
definition was given by Jarman, an English author, as follows:-<o:p></o:p>“A Will is an instrument by which a person makes
disposition of his property to take effect after his decease, and which is, in
its own nature, ambulatory and revocable during his lifetime”. Emphasis<o:p></o:p>The learned and distinguished author, continued on
the same page 434 as follows:-<o:p></o:p>(c)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “History of Wills: Testaments
are of very high antiquity. In the seventh century, we are told that the
jurists of that period proffered the view that “the power of Testation itself is of Natural Law, that it is a right
conferred by the Law of Nature.” Atkinson,the
learned American author on Wills wrote as follows:- “In 2548 B.C, we
find an Egyptian executing an instrument on papyrus, witnessed by 2 Scribes,
settling certain property upon his wife, and appointing a guardian for his
infant children.” Testaments were in use among the ancient Hebrews, and
Salon was the first legislator who introduced a somewhat qualified privilege of
testamentary disposition among the Greeks. In Rome, Wills were unknown until
the laws of the Twelve Tables were compiled around 450 B.C and the right of
making Wills became a creature of Civil Law. Historically, the making of Wills had
been recognized in England from the Anglo Saxon era through the period of the
Norman Conquest to the modern age; starting from the statute of Wills 1540. As
Blackstone put it, “with us in England
this power of bequeathing is co-eval with the first rudiments of the law; for
we have no traces or memories of anytime when it did not exist.” Emphasis
supplied.<o:p></o:p>The question then
arises as to:-<o:p></o:p>WHO THEN HAS
CAPACITY TO MAKE A WILL AS WAS DONE BY THE PREDECESSOR OF THE PLAINTIFFS
BERGINA BRIANDT IN EXHIBIT B?<o:p></o:p>